The seventh guest
by KuroKame
Summary: In the second age of the pirates, there is a restaurant sailing the Grand Line and the four oceans. It is known as the Sagatie, famous for the firstclass chefs working there. For one man, it is also a symbol for a dream coming true. [Complete]
1. Restaurant of Dreams

**The seventh guest**

By KuroKame

In the second age of the pirates, there is a restaurant sailing the Grand Line and the four oceans. It is known as the Sagatie, famous for the first-class chefs working there. For one man, it is also a symbol for a dream coming true. But when a man finally reaches his life-long dream, what else is there for him to long for?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece or any of the characters; I'm just playing with them for fun.

Akatani Kaji and the non-Oda-ish characters are my own creations, please do not use without permission (not that I think anyone would want to, but just in case...)

* * *

The eastern ocean lay almost perfectly still as the sun slowly moved across the sky towards the horizon. Even as the skies shifted color from bright blue to a fiery red, one particular place in the middle of the ocean was as busy as if night was nowhere near falling. Ships and boats of all sizes had been flocking to Sagatie, the carp-shaped sea restaurant, since the break of dawn, and very few seemed to be planning on leaving before sunset. 

A loud crash suddenly disturbed the calm that had settled over the area, echoing over the ocean as the restaurant shook violently. Fainter crashes and thumps followed, accompanied by cheering and applauses before the large double-doors on the portside were shattered as a man was flung out from the restaurant out onto the outer terrace deck to which the many ships were moored.

The man skidded over the deck and came to a stop somewhere near the middle. He moaned lightly as he slowly crawled to his feet while staring back towards the restaurant. One hand moved up to his bruised and bleeding face to sweep some stray locks of red hair out of his slanted eyes while the other searched along his sash for a weapon that wasn't there. He took a deep, trembling breath as he glared at the one responsible for his injuries. Akatani Kaji was a well-known lone pirate, only eighteen and already with a bounty of 50 million Belli on his head. There was no way some low-life cook was going to make a fool out of him that easy.

In the doorway to the restaurant stood a middle-aged man with graying mint green hair and a steel grey beard, his muscular, tattooed arms folded across his chest. The man's already ugly features didn't improve as his face was twisted into an expression of outmost annoyance.

"And stay out!" he said gruffly, waving a fist the size of a cannonball at the young pirate.

"Pati …"

The calm voice caused Kaji and the older man to look up towards the second floor of the ship, where a lanky blond man dressed in a black suit was leaning against the ornamented railing with his back turned against them, a cigarette casually hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"You're not kicking out a hungry customer again, are you, Pati?" the blond man asked, idly puffing out rings of smoke, almost as if he had no real interest in having the conversation. "You're being awfully noisy."

"That's no customer, and he sure ain't hungry," the green-haired man named Pati growled, thrusting his thumb towards the young pirate on the terrace. "He has no money to pay for all the food he just ate."

At first, the man on the second floor didn't seem to have heard the accusations aimed at Kaji, because he didn't reply or even turn around. Then he tapped the ashes off his cigarette and put out the last embers by rubbing it against the railing before he turned to look down at the men below him. He stuck his hand into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and withdrew a small, black leather bag in which he deposited what was left of his cigarette. Sliding the bag back into his jacket, he put his hands in the pockets of his pants and made a leap over the railing down to the lower deck. He landed as silent and softly as a cat on the deck next to Pati, turning to look directly at Kaji as he slowly started walking out onto the outer deck.

The young pirate straightened his back as much as he could without wincing from the pain in his bruised ribs, watching the suit-clad man warily. He found the blond man's calm and clean-cut appearance unnerving. What could a man with that kind of air about him possibly be doing aboard a ship with brutes like that 'Pati'-character? Still, in the back of his mind, Kaji knew that he had seen the man before.

The blond hair framing the pointy face while covering most of its left side; the sharp look in the almost half-shut eyes; the thin beard bristle along the line of his jaw and the strange, curled eyebrows lead Kaji's thoughts to a Wanted-poster he had seen when he was younger. But this man couldn't possibly be the person on the poster – why would the Marines put a bounty of 697 million Belli on a seemingly harmless man?

Suddenly, Kaji was thrown to the deck, an excruciating pain in his ribs spreading to the rest of his torso. The world spun before his eyes as he curled up on the deck, carefully lifting his head to see what had happened. In front of him stood the suit-clad man, one leg still lifted from the deck after delivering a bone-shattering kick to Kaji's body. His face was still carrying the same calm, almost bored expression from before, but the glare in the only visible eye seemed to be able to pierce through steel.

"Don't think that I don't know who you are and how much you're worth, you shitty little eggplant," the blond man said with an eerily calm voice. "But not even the King of Pirates would eat for free in my restaurant. Now get the hell away from my ship if you don't want me to kick you all the way to whatever little island you came from."

Staring at the tall man with wide eyes, Kaji slowly crawled backwards towards his boat, his broken ribs creaking painfully for every move he made. Turning away from the monstrous cooks, he made a mental note never to visit a restaurant without money ever again.

Putting his foot back on the deck, the suit-clad man watched the young pirate set sail to leave the restaurant as quick as possible. He sighed, adding yet another eat-and-run to his growing list that week. What bothered him wasn't that the restaurant lost money every time it happened, there was always enough money. But the ingratitude that seemed to inhabit the new era of pirates kept disappointing him over and over again. Turning away to go back into the restaurant, he glanced at the older man.

"Let's not keep the customers waiting, Pati," he said with the same calm voice he had used before. "It's getting late, and there are pirates in East Blue."

"Aye, Owner Sanji," Pati replied and nodded.

The blond man smiled lightly at his own title before he walked towards the restaurant, where a short, gruffly-looking man was already mending the broken doors. Nodding, Sanji smiled appreciating at the carpenter as he passed by.

"Yo, Minatomo. Thanks for fixing the door, you can leave the bill to one of my waiters.10,000 Belli for the repair as usual?"

"Make it 15 and I'll fix those holes in the roof as well," the short man said, nodding towards the roof of the restaurant, where the traces of a battle still remained. Without taking his eyes from his work, he then tilted his head towards Sanji. "How're you gonna keep her afloat when I'm not around anymore?"

Sanji laughed and turned around in the doorway, his hands deep in his pockets.

"A pack of bubblegum and lots of duct tape. Listen, old man, I'll give you 20 if you can take a look at the hull as well."

Minatomo grunted in reply before he got up and lifted the right-hand door to its hinges. He then continued mending the other door in deep concentration while Sanji disappeared into the restaurant, closely followed by Pati, who politely started to ask the paying customers to leave – or with Sanji's words 'Get the hell out of the restaurant' – as soon as he entered the large dining hall.

– e – e –

It was way past midnight before Sanji had finished closing up the restaurant. After making sure that the fridges and the freezers were securely locked – an old habit he had found himself too fond of to do something about – he made his way through the dark dining hall and began climbing the stairs to the second floor where the cooks' quarters were located. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he turned left in the narrow corridor and followed it until he came up to the door at the far end. As he walked, he listened to the sounds that drifted out from the other quarters where his chefs and waiters were sleeping. The snores and muttering voices that echoed lightly between the wooden walls as the cooks were talking and arguing with each other in their sleep made Sanji's eyes sting uncomfortably, and he rubbed them with the back of his hand before opening the door to his room.

Sinking down in the armchair behind his small wooden desk, Sanji leaned back while looking through the list of supplies from the latest inventory. They had arrived to East Blue only a week earlier, and they were already running low on many ingredients. At that rate, they would have to pack up and return to All Blue in only four days to restock their supplies. Throwing the stack of papers onto his desk, Sanji sighed deeply as he looked up at the ceiling.

Out of habit, he pulled out the packet of cigarettes and the box of matches from his pocket. Sticking one of the cigarettes in the corner of his mouth, he let what was left of the pack slide back into his pocket and struck fire to a match without even paying much attention to what he was doing. Once the cigarette was lit and he had let the box of matches slip into the pocket, he shook the match to put out the tiny flame.

Only seven months had passed since the first customers visited the newly built Sagatie, Sanji's greatest pride and treasure. She was the evidence that he had reached his goal, to find All Blue, the legendary ocean, and also his way of passing on the legacy of the old fart, Zeff. After all, he had inherited the old man's desire to feed the hungry souls out on the oceans.

So why was he not happy? He asked himself that question at least hundred times every day, and each time, he gave himself the same answer: Because he had reached his goal. There was nothing for him to look forward to except the next time he got to see the ocean he had discovered. There was no more excitement, no more laughter and no more adventure to look forward to, just the same old routines every single day, no matter what ocean they were in.

Some days, he almost felt like there was a hole inside him that ached worse than any fractured rib or crushed bone had ever done in his entire life. A black hole that threatened to grow stronger and one day swallow not only his happiness but his whole being. Of course, he had met some of his old nakama out on the different oceans and in the Grand Line, and that had momentarily eased the pain inside him.

Kyle and Manti, the two numbskull surfers who had turned out to be two of the greatest musicians and fighters in the whole Grand Line, were still on their way towards their final goal in life, to compose the greatest song in the world, and Sanji had barely been able to hide his jealousy when they told him about the adventures they had been through after the Straw Hat Clan had been dissolved.

Keira-chan, the little stowaway from the island inside the Calm Belt had finally reached South Blue and the Peacock Islands where she had found her long lost family, and Seraly-chan had become the best archer in the whole world. That had also been in the newspapers, Sanji reminded himself.

_Sol, the undefeated Golden Archer outshined by unknown pirate.  
_That had been the headline covering the front pages all over the world, followed by a short article about the competition in archery where Usopp's apprentice clearly had showed off her skills against the champion.

The stinging feeling made itself known in the corners of Sanji's eyes, and he rubbed them furiously, suddenly wondering why he hadn't gone to bed yet. The restaurant was opening at exactly six in the morning, whether he went to sleep or not. Therefore, he crushed the embers of his cigarette in the ashtray on the desk and got up from his armchair, glancing out through the circular windows at the calm ocean as he unbuttoned his black jacket and pulled off his necktie. Folding them both neatly and placing them on top of a small bureau, he took off his shoes and pulled out the top drawer from which he withdrew something that was very similar to a fishnet.

Reaching up, Sanji fastened the ends of his hammock to a pair of strong hooks in the ceiling and climbed into it. As he settled down and the hammock slowly stopped swinging, he couldn't help but smile a little. He knew that the other cooks were wondering why he wasn't sleeping in a normal bed like the rest of them, and he also knew that there were rumors about him never really sleeping circling around on the ship. But he let them talk. The truth was simply that he had found that he never slept better anywhere than he did in his hammock. He guessed that he simply loved the light swinging movement the hammock made as waves slapped against the anchored ship.

Slowly but safely, Sanji drifted off to sleep, in his dreams returning to his days as an active pirate, where he no longer was the almost thirty-year-old head chef of a famous restaurant, but was turned back into the nineteen-year-old man who searched for something no one really thought existed. He was surrounded by the strongest, most loyal nakama any man could ever find, all of them lead by a wide-eyed moron who aimed for an impossible goal - and he was happy. So very, very happy.


	2. The first guest

A/N: I meant to leave a note at the end of the first chapter where I explain that this story will get a bit longer than just one chapter. But I guess it slipped my mind.

I was also going to give an explanation to the name Sanji gave his restaurant. Sagatie is a mix between the word_ sagashi _(which if I'm not completely mistaken would be Japanese for 'to search'. Be sure to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm definitely not good at Japanese.), andBaratie, which was the name ofRed-legged Zeff's sea resturant.

Anyway, here's chapter 2! Enjoy.

* * *

When the first rays of sun slowly climbed above the eastern horizon, the employees aboard the Sagatie started to move inside their quarters, exchanging '_good morning_'s and arguing whose turn it was to use the bathroom first that morning. Sanji had by that time already been up for an hour to unlock the freezers and get the restaurant ready for the customers he already knew were on their way. Down in the large kitchen, he could hear his cooks and waiters argue even over the hissing of steam and boiling water and the roar of the gas stoves' blue fire, and he smiled lightly.

He had always been used to having people arguing and fighting around him, and was never late to join in an argument if he got the chance. It was just a shame that the arguments usually ended fairly quickly among the chefs. Back in the days aboard the Going Merry, some arguments had been able to last for days at a time, even though they usually started with some small thing like whose turn it was to do the dishes after dinner.

When the cooks were slowly starting to fill up the kitchen twenty minutes later, Sanji retreated out into the dining hall and up to the little table next to the door where the head waiter would greet the customers once the restaurant was ready to open for the day. The head chef picked up the thin black leather book from the table and flipped between the pages until he found the reservations for the day. It seemed like the day was going to be busy, just like the others before it. Twenty-four parties (each with at least four people) had made reservations for the day, which meant that the dining hall would be very crowded. Sanji was just thinking about how many parties they would have to place up on the upper terrace when the sound of the double-doors being opened reached his ears.

"Sorry to disturb…" a voice called out from the entrance behind Sanji's back.

"We're not open for customers yet," Sanji said without turning around, even as he thought he could recognize the voice behind him. He put down the black book on the table and fished out a fresh cigarette from his pocket. "Do you have a reservation?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't," was the calm reply, and the sound of a chair being pulled out reached Sanji's ears. "I hope that won't be a problem. Do you mind if I sit down and wait for you to open?"

Sanji blinked and froze just as he was about to light his cigarette. He wasn't used to customers talking so politely to him, since people often mistook him for a waiter or even one of the guests. Adding to that the familiarity in the voice, he could no longer keep himself from turning around to look at the customer, the hand holding the lighter sinking down by his side. The sight of the tall, freckled man sitting by the table closest to the door, with the orange hat resting firmly on top of his unruly black hair and the many tattoos on his bare upper body made Sanji give up a small chuckle.

"Ace? Portgas D. Ace - is that really you?" he asked, mostly to convince himself that he wasn't imagining seeing his former captain's brother sitting there by one of the tables in his restaurant.

The black-haired man looked puzzled for a moment as he looked at Sanji, but then an expression of recognition spread over his freckled face and he got up from the chair, reaching out his hand towards the head chef. Sanji reached out to shake the pirate's hand, feeling the black hole in his chest shrinking a bit as he was convinced that it really was Ace standing there in front of him. Ace smiled brightly, tilting his head lightly to the side.

"The one and only. Good to see you, Sanji. It's been a while. What are you doing here in East Blue?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Sanji said with a smile. "Well, we're sailing the oceans and the Grand Line to feed people all over the world. But what about you? I thought you'd be cruising all over the Grand Line after what happened to your old clan. What brings you to East Blue?"

Ace shook his head and walked back to his chair to sit down again. Sanji looked around to see if his waiters had come down to start preparing the dining hall for the day. Spotting two of the waiters, he ordered them to prepare fourteen tables on the upper terrace before he joined Ace by the table. When he sat down, Ace told him that he once again was out searching for a man from his clan. This time, the man he was hunting had not only murdered one of his nakama, but he had also intentionally led twenty of Ace's best men into an ambush where a band of robbers had killed them all and stolen every little thing from the dead that could be sold for easy money.

"So when I saw this ship, I thought I'd stop by and ask if anyone here had heard of him."

Ace stuck his hand in one of his pockets and withdrew a smeared Wanted-poster, which he showed to Sanji. The picture was faded and smudged, but Sanji still recognized the stubborn red bangs falling like a curtain over a pair of slanted eyes. Akatani Kaji's face was still pretty fresh in his mind.

"He was here last night," Sanji admitted and returned the poster to Ace, his blood boiling by the very thought of someone intentionally leading his nakama to a certain death. "I didn't know that the damn kid used to be one of your men. He tried to get away without paying for his food, the little shithead, so one of my chefs beat him up."

_If I had known what he had done, I wouldn't have let him get away that easy…_ Sanji thought to himself, but he managed to keep his calm. He didn't want to risk making a scene that early in the morning, and he decided to save the frustration just in case some little freeloader came by later during the day.

Ace slipped the poster back into his pocket and gave up a light chuckle over the last thing Sanji said. Leaning forward over the table, he glanced sideways at Sanji.

"Well, then I guess he'll be nursing his wounds for a few days. Would you mind if I stayed here for a day or two? You see, I was hoping that I could stock up on my own supplies. I've been a little short on food since I came back to East Blue… Of course, I have the money to pay for it," he added quickly, reaching down and lightly slapping the palm of his hand against the backpack which was leaning against his feet on the floor.

Sanji nodded lightly, feeling glad that Ace was staying. It would definitely be good to have someone to talk to during the days. Glanced at the fish-shaped clock above the entrance and swiftly calculating how long it would take to get the Sagatie ready for her customers, Sanji got up from his chair. When he turned back to Ace to tell him to make himself at home, the words died on his lips when he noticed that the pirate's head had dropped forward and he could hear Ace snoring faintly. Shaking his head, Sanji walked across the room towards the kitchen. He had almost forgotten about the way Ace could fall asleep in the middle of a conversation and then continue talking once he woke up as if nothing had happened.

When he walked past a pair of waiters who were placing out the table cloths, he couldn't help but catch a part of their hushed conversation.

"…I'm telling you, it's him. That man over there is definitely Fire Fist Ace…" one of the waiters whispered, apparently unaware that Sanji was still near enough to hear him.

"What should we do?" the other waiter asked nervously, also completely unaware of Sanji's presence. "Should we call for the Marines?"

Fed up with the whispering about his guest, Sanji spun around where he stood, letting his left leg fly in a wide circle before his foot crashed into the back of the first waiter's head. The two men fell to the floor, looking back at Sanji with wide eyes as they tried to get up. The head chef wasn't in the mood to have any longer discussions with the two men who clearly had no respect for his guest.

"Owner…"

"That man is a guest, and he shall be treated as such," Sanji ordered, putting his hands in his pockets with a threatening look in his eyes. "We are here to serve food to the hungry, not to judge the ones who come to this restaurant."

"B-but…" the first waiter stuttered, crawling up on all four while staring at Sanji. "Owner, his bounty is almost as high as the Pirate King's… What if he destroys the restaurant?"

The corner of Sanji's mouth twitched as he held back a smile. It was obvious that the only things the two waiters knew about Ace were what the rumors said. Rumors created by people who feared him. Even if Sanji had had the opportunity to see a display of Ace's power many years earlier, he had never had any reason to fear the pirate, and he was definitely not going to throw the first familiar person he had met in months out of his restaurant because of some damn rumors.

"If he does that, then we'll kick him out." He assured the frightened waiters. "But until then, you are to serve him whatever he asks for. Understood?"

The two waiters nodded swiftly, but the look in their eyes told Sanji loud and clear that the men were wondering if their head chef had finally lost his mind. Taking his hand from his pocket and waving it in the air, he managed to get his waiters to return to their chores, and was free to continue with his own. Around him, the Sagatie slowly got ready to greet the morning.

The first guests arrived just after six in the morning, a party of three couples who were there to try the breakfast from All Blue. By that time, Ace had finally awakened, and was trying to have a conversation with Sanji. That proved to be quite hard since Sanji was flitting around, showering the three newly arrived women with compliments (to the three newly arrived men's great annoyance) and recommending different kinds of breakfast dishes. When the guests had received their food, Sanji left them alone for a while and strolled over to Ace, still glancing at the women over his shoulder from time to time. Ace cackled lightly as Sanji sat down next to him.

"If you don't mind me saying so, you haven't changed much over the years, have you?" he asked, a wide grin spreading over his face.

"I guess not," Sanji replied, puffing out a thin trail of smoke while his eyes still wandering over towards the guests. "But then again, you don't seem to have changed much either."

Ace shrugged and leaned back in his chair while folding his arms across his tattooed chest. He looked thoughtful for a moment and smiled lightly.

"I don't have to change. I have no interest in becoming a better man."

Sanji watched the man in front of him, not sure what he was supposed to say. To see Ace again had been a cheerful reminder of past times, but hearing him say those words also reminded him of the happiest time in his life. The head chef of the Sagatie suddenly felt very restless.

"I'm not sure if I should envy you or pity you, Ace…" Sanji finally replied truthfully and got up from his chair. "Excuse me, I have to check on my apprentices. Feel free to order anything from the menu during the day, it's all on the house."

"It's not necessary…" Ace started, but Sanji turned away and hurried towards the kitchen. Blinking, the black-haired man uneasily scratched the back of his head and bowed lightly where he sat. "Well, thank you…"

As the doors to the kitchen swung shut behind Sanji, the blond man sighed and straightened his back. He hadn't meant to leave Ace like that, without much of an explanation, but he hadn't known what to do. Just looking at Ace reminded him of the time they traveled through the deserts of Alabasta, and the memory triggered something inside him. Something that had been longing to come out in the light again. Slowly, Sanji could feel the spirit of the pirate in him waking up after being dormant for almost a year.

Sighing once more, he suddenly remembered why he had gone away from the dining hall in the first place. He looked around the busy kitchen and spotted the three young boys in white uniforms who darted around between their cutting boards and the stoves, peeling and cutting vegetables while casting nervous glances over their shoulders. One of the boys, a thin little nine-year-old with bright green hair looked up and dropped his knife onto his cutting board when he saw Sanji.

"Careful with that," Sanji said sharply, causing the two other boys to look up. The two cyan-haired twins seemed to take a step back without moving once they saw the head chef.

Walking across the kitchen, Sanji took his time to examine the different soups and other dishes that were boiling on the stoves before he came up to the apprentices. He bent down to pick up the knife that was still lying on the floor by the green-haired boy's feet. When he straightened up again, he held out the knife with the handle first towards the boy, a serious look in his eyes.

"To a cook, the knife is a sharp extension of his hand. It is a part of him, just like his soul. You wouldn't trade your soul for anything, would you?"

The three boys shook their heads not looking quite as frightened anymore, almost as if they just had realized that the head chef wasn't going to punish them for doing something wrong. Sanji let the corner of his mouth curl upwards in a light smile as the green-haired boy took the knife and went to clean it by one of the sinks.

"Good. Then you understand that you should never let anyone…"

Sanji was interrupted by the loud noise of the kitchen doors being slammed open, and he turned around to see what was going on. One of the waiters he had kicked earlier that morning was standing in front of the swinging doors, a very nervous look on his face. As the doors swung open behind the waiter, Sanji could hear voices from the dining hall mumbling '_Kaizoku_'.

"Owner!" the waiter said, gasping for air after the short run to the kitchen. "Pirates! A pirate ship is heading this way, it's going to reach us in a minute or even less! What are we going to do?"

Sanji glanced down at the three boys in front of him, who had turned at least four shades paler by the mentioning of pirates. He knew that the boys hadn't seen many pirates in their lives, except just after Sanji had agreed to let them become apprentices, when a clan of forty men had attacked the Sagatie in North Blue. That was surely enough to make the kids a bit nervous when the topic of pirates came up. Turning to the waiter in front of the door, Sanji noticed that all the chefs also were looking in that direction. He lifted his left leg in the air and slammed it against the steel counter in front of him, causing a noise that made everyone in the room jump.

"Get back to work," he ordered calmly. "You've seen pirates before, and there are more guests coming in only a few minutes."

Then he turned to the waiter and slowly made his way back through the kitchen towards the doors, wondering how he possibly could have thought that this was going to be a fine day.

"Only one ship?" he asked, not waiting for a reply as he passed by the waiter. "Why didn't anyone inform me about this earlier? Did you recognize the flag?"

"N-no… I mean, yes, it's only one ship, and no, I've never seen the flag before…" the waiter stuttered as he followed Sanji out into the dining hall.

The largest room on the Sagatie was already crowded with newly arrived guests, but at that moment, every single person was staring out through the windows on the portside of the ship. When Sanji turned his head to follow their gaze, he soon spotted the large shadow of a medium-sized unknown ship that was slowly gliding up alongside the restaurant. From what he could see, the ship's hull seemed to have been repaired multiple times already, and it also seemed to be made out of parts from different ships. This made him wonder what kind of captain would set his foot on such a ship. Without taking his eyes from the ship that seemed to be docking right outside, Sanji told the now shivering waiter to go and tell the chefs to be prepared, just in case the pirate clan was large.

Gritting his teeth, he thought of the already half-empty freezers and hoped that the pirates at least had the manners to pay for their meal. If they didn't, he would have to teach them a lesson or two, Sanji thought to himself as he heard footsteps coming across the outer deck. However, when a very familiar voice drifted in through the half-open doors, Sanji momentarily lost the ability to move. The cigarette that was hanging from the corner of his mouth dropped to the floor where the embers soon started to create a small black mark in the light wooden floor.

* * *

_Well, that was chapter two. I don't know if it has the same quality as the first chapter (which in my opinion turned out great) but I've gone through it so many times now that I don't know what else to add to it. So if there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, it is completely my fault for not seeing them._

_FieryKitsune - Well, there's nothing wrong with glomping the heck out of Sanji-kun, now is it? I can't imagine what it would be like to finally achieve your life-time goal and then find that you would have been happier if you never achieved it in the first place._

_Griever5 - I guess you'll have to keep reading to find that out, now won't you? n-n I'm glad that you liked it._


	3. Friendly reunion

The voice sounded a bit muffled as it drifted in through the partly open doors to the restaurant, but Sanji figured that neither the guests in the dining hall or the chefs in the kitchen had much trouble hearing each word loud and clear.

"Known over the four great oceans! Feared throughout the Grand Line! Admired and praised all over the Red Line. I am the brave warrior of the sea…"

The doors to the restaurant were slammed wide open, revealing a man dressed in a long brown cloak who was striking a pose with the rising sun behind him. Sanji blinked twice before he allowed himself to believe what he was seeing. Then he smirked and stuck his hands in his pockets, watching the pirate who was standing just outside the dining hall with his arms folded across his chest, a confident smile on his lips and the long curly black hair fluttering lightly in the seabreeze. The pirate lifted his left hand, tapping the tip of his unusually long nose with his index finger before he continued speaking.

"…the great Captain Usopp." He finished, lowering his voice to a whisper when he said his name for effect.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" Sanji said calmly, now smiling quite brightly towards the pirate. "Are you actually going to order something or did you just stop by to entertain my guests with your stories?"

The pirate dressed in the brown cloak flinched lightly at the sound of Sanji's voice, and for a moment, an expression of shock flashed across his long-nosed face. His eyes darted over the room until they landed on Sanji, who was standing by the door to the kitchen, smiling towards the pirate. Usopp's face immediately lost its shocked expression and cracked up in a wide grin.

"Sanji! Damn, it's good to see you!"

A low murmur of whispering voices soared through the room as the head chef walked up to the newly arrived pirate and shook his hand. Sanji could hear people mutter something about the sniper's bounty and someone who suggested that they should call for the Marines. He sighed lightly, but managed to keep his smile from fading. After all, it wasn't every day he got to see two of his old nakama in one day.

"Sanji," Usopp said again, laughing lightly as he released the chef's hand. "You have to be the last person I ever expected to see back here in East Blue."

Sanji nodded and returned the statement while gesturing for Usopp to sit down by the table where Ace was sitting. Usopp waved happily to Ace as he spotted him and smiled when the older pirate raised his hand in return. Then he turned towards the doors again, his hand lightly touching Sanji's shoulder to get the chef's attention. Sanji turned around, looking at Usopp while he wondered what the sniper could be up to.

"Hang on, Sanji…" Usopp said, cupping his hands around his mouth before he called out: "It's okay, you can come in now!"

The tapping sound of light footsteps against the wooden terrace outside the restaurant soared in through the open doors. Confused, Sanji glanced towards the open door where a small shadow appeared, looking very shy as it slowly stepped into the restaurant, its little head turning swiftly from side to side as if it was checking the surroundings for any possible danger. The sight of the little two-legged reindeer with the pink top hat and the blue nose made Sanji smile brightly for the second time in three minutes. The fact that the fur around the little doctor's face had started to turn from brown to silver wasn't something that bothered the chef as he felt the black hole inside him slowly retreat into itself, the pain easing steadily.

"Chopper!" he said gently, making the reindeer's eyes pull away from the guests in the room. He knew that the little doctor always had been a bit nervous around strangers. "You're here as well?"

"Sanji!"

The little reindeer's eyes lit up when he spotted Sanji, and he hurried over to the chef and the two pirates by the table, where he climbed up on a chair to reach up to shake Sanji's and Ace's hands. When the four men had finished greeting each other, Sanji was pleased to notice that the guests in the room had stopped watching them and had gone back to their own conversations and their food. Some of them still cast curious glances towards the pirates and seemed to be trying to listen to what was said between them, but there was at least no more whispering voices talking about calling the Marines.

"So…" he said, leaning back in his chair as he looked across the table at Usopp and Chopper, who were reading the morning's menu thoroughly. "What brings you two to East Blue?"

"Homesickness," Usopp replied, muttering something about trying the Elephant Tuna for lunch later, since he never had had the chance to try it before.

Sanji nodded, a bit taken aback by the short reply. He would have expected a long, unbelievable story with pirates, dragons and various dangers. Suddenly, he wasn't as sure that the two men sitting in front of him really were his nakama as he had been only a few minutes earlier. Quickly, he pushed that thought out of his head. What was he thinking? Of course he couldn't have expected Usopp and Chopper to stay the same over the year they had been separated, just because they hadn't changed much during the nine years they had been sailing together.

"So you thought you should go back to your village and that pretty girl you always talked about?" he asked, almost wishing that Usopp would start telling some weird story as he always did. He didn't know why, though; Sanji had never been a fan of those ridiculously exaggerated lies Usopp used to tell whenever he got the opportunity.

"Well," Usopp said, handing over the menu to Chopper as he leaned forward to look at Sanji across the table. "Yes and no. You see, I wanted to show Chopper the village where I grew up, and I wanted to see Kaya and the kids again and tell them all about our adventures. But that island stopped being my home when I decided to become a pirate. I realized that the moment I set my foot on the north beach."

"Then what do you mean by homesickness?" Sanji asked, leaning forward against the table. To his right, Ace was sitting quiet while he watched the reunited nakama, but at that moment, Sanji didn't pay much attention to him. He was feeling more and more eager to know what Usopp had meant by 'homesickness', and it was annoying the hell out of him.

The look Usopp gave Sanji made the chef blink in confusion. Then the sniper leaned forward towards Sanji with a cunning smile playing across his face. Usopp had definitely grown to the title of his dreams and Sanji noticed that it was clear that the sniper definitely wasn't the same coward he had been ten years earlier.

"Do you really have to ask that?" Usopp asked in return, the sly smile still on his face. "You're feeling the same thing Chopper and I've been feeling since we split up, aren't you?"

Sanji frowned. The sly smile on Usopp's face was unnerving, and Sanji started to feel uncomfortable just by looking at the marksman in front of him.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," he tried to defend himself, even though even he could hear how feeble his attempt of denial sounded.

"Of course you do," Usopp stated calmly and smiled. "You feel like there's something missing inside you, almost like a hole that never stops growing. A hole that hurts while you're alone and fills up a little every time you meet one of your nakama. That's why Chopper and I decided to team up again when we met. Neither of us could stand being alone anymore. We want to reunite the clan, or at least make sure that we don't have to lose contact with our nakama again."

Sanji didn't reply. He couldn't believe what he was hearing: he wasn't the only one with a black hole inside him? Knowing that made him both relieved and sad. So the only way to get rid of the pain inside him was to become an active pirate again? Sanji didn't know if that was an option any longer, since he had the Sagatie to worry about now. Instead, he made an attempt to change the subject.

"What's with the ship you came here with?" he asked with the most carefree tone he could produce. "From what I saw, she looks like the creation of a deranged madman. No offense, though…" he added, nodding towards Usopp as he remembered that one should never insult a ship in front of her captain.

"You don't recognize her?" Usopp asked with surprise, but then he seemed to realize something and waved his hand dismissively. "No, I guess you wouldn't. Of course, I didn't build her myself. The shipwrights in South Blue are amazing, you know. Anyway, her name is Meri Go, and the reason to why she looks a bit… well, like a half-finished jig-saw puzzle is because she's built with spare parts from different ships. It was the only thing we could afford since most of our treasures sank with Going Merry when she was destroyed once and for all seven months ago. I managed to save the tangerine sprouts Nami gave me, though."

Nodding, Sanji thought of the Going Merry, feeling a sting of pain in his chest as he got to know that the proud caravel which had survived nine years of storms, Marines and other pirates attacking (and not to mention her very lively and violent pirate crew) and four complete restorations, would no longer sail the oceans under a pirate flag. Even if he probably never would admit it, that ship had been his nakama, just like the rest of the crew, and hearing about her being destroyed felt just as bad as if Usopp had told him that Nami-san or Robin-chan had been killed.

"We've seen Keira's hometown on the Peacock Feather Island," Chopper added absentmindedly as he still studied the menu. Sanji blinked as he turned his gaze towards the doctor, taking notice of the fact that the reindeer's voice had turned a bit darker and was carrying a lightly creaking tone. "She and Seraly didn't want to come with us even when we asked…"

"Well, neither of them wanted to be pirates in the first place," Usopp chipped in, leaning back in his chair again. "So it wasn't that much of a shock when they declined. They just joined us back then because of Luffy, you know."

Sanji smiled at the memory of the two young girls and reluctantly got up from his chair. Time was flying by faster than the chef had anticipated. He had been sitting down for too long already and even if he wanted to stay and talk to his nakama, he still had a restaurant to look after.

"I have to get back to work now," he said to his nakama, reaching out his hand towards Chopper to retrieve the menu. "Have you three decided what you want to eat for breakfast?"

A storm of orders from the three men around the table followed, and Sanji mentally noted down each and every dish before he turned away to walk to the kitchen. As he walked through the room, he felt a strange kind of satisfaction growing inside him, almost as if he hadn't been cooking for the right people until now.

_Then again_, he thought with a barely visible smile, _that's probably true._

He left the menu he had taken from Chopper on a small table in the middle of the room, where a tray of clean crystal glass, smaller plates and woven baskets with forks and knives were placed. Then, he took a short turn around the other tables, making sure that the guests weren't disturbed by the pirates. When that was done, he headed towards the large silverdoors at the end of the room, casually moving to the side each time a waiter emerged from the kitchen with trays loaded with food.

Once Sanji pushed the doors open and entered the large kitchen, he could feel everyone's eyes on him, but managed to ignore them. After all, he wasn't one to care what others thought of him.

"You can relax," he told the chefs the moment the doors swung shut behind him. "There's only two of them, and they're harmless. Get back to your chores now."

Sanji walked up to an empty counter and marked it as his by placing out a cutting board and his personal knife on it before he went to get the ingredients he needed. He wanted to be the one to prepare the food for his nakama, just likehehadused to do for nine years.On his way towards the cold storage rooms, he took off his black jacket and hanged it on a hook on the wall next to the double-doors. From another hook, he took down a slightly faded pink Doskoi-apron, which he tied around his waist before he rolled up the sleeves of his lightblue shirt to his elbows. All this was made in something that looked like one sweeping movement, a movement which Sanji was starting to perfect after the twenty years he had been a chef.

Returning from the storage with some vegetables, Sanji let the surroundings fade away and put all his concentration on the cutting board in front of him. As soon as his fingers touched the handle of his knife, his body switched to auto-pilot, allowing a part of his mind to start processing the morning's events while he was working. He was finding it hard to believe that he had been sailing the five oceans plus the Grand Line for seven months and had only seen a glimpse or two of some of his old nakama, and all of a sudden, three of them had shown up at his restaurant with only a gap of a few hours between their arrivals. It couldn't be just coincidence that they all had been in the same place at the same time.

With great expertise, Sanji quickly prepared the vegetables. His hands flew over the cutting board, slicing the tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots to shreds with a fantastic speed that made the other chefs in the kitchen glance sideways at him, mentally preparing themselves for bloodshed that never would come. Once Sanji finished slicing the vegetables, he reached down under the counter and retrieved a large frying pan and two smaller saucepans. Placing the three pans on the stove to his right, he walked over to the pantry on the other side of the room, from which he brought back two loaves of bread, a bag of flour, cooking oil, salt and a large bowl of eggs.

"Let's see now…" he muttered to himself, going over the mental notes he had made of his nakama's orders.

After about half an hour, Sanji turned off the stove and wiped his hands on his apron. On the counter, three trays were loaded with food. Oatmeal, stacks of pancakes, fried and boiled eggs, omelettes, sandwiches and various fresh vegetables. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, Sanji felt the surroundings making itself known again with all the noise in the kitchen thundering in his ears. Through the noise, the feeling of being watched started creeping up on him.

When he looked up, he met the eyes of his two best chefs, Pati and Carne, before the two older men continued working with their food. When he turned away to pick up the trays and walk out into the dining hall again, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back. As Sanji looked up, he glared at the man holding him by the upper left arm. His saw his own reflection in the two black lenses of the small round sunglasses the older man always wore, and that allowed him to see his own face twist in an annoyed expression.

"Let go, Carne," he said calmly, but he could feel his hands being clenched tightly as he fought to keep his temper under control.

"Sanji, you can't let them eat here," Carne said, pushing his round sunglasses further up on the bridge of his nose with his free hand. Sanji understood that the man had been watching the pirates arrive through the windows of the door to the dining hall.

"They aren't going to harm the restaurant, Carne," Sanji stated, his voice as calm just as before. "Or the guests, for that matter. They're my nakama."

"I wouldn't speak out loud about that, Sanji," Pati warned quietly from behind Carne, not looking up from the fish he was preparing to boil. "You were reprieved because you saved those important Marines from starving to death once. Being seen with pirates of their caliber wouldn't be wise. What if the Marines or a bounty hunter shows up?"

Carne nodded in agreement, but didn't let go of Sanji's arm. Sanji felt the urge to just tear free from the older man's grip, but he didn't move. Instead, he stared into the four eyes of his own reflections with an expression that normally would have been far too childish for him to ever use it.

"After all," Carne said slowly. "Just the little animal has a bounty of 162 million Belli on his head, and according to some posters I saw last week, that long-nosed character is closer to 300 million these days! Use your brain, Sanji, if anyone found out that you used to be a pirate, you could be executed."

Sanji glared at the two men, finding it hard to believe what he was hearing. There they were, the two best chefs from the Baratie – except for the late owner Zeff and Sanji, of course – and they wanted him to deny the only life that had ever made him truly happy. Gritting his teeth, he jerked his arm out of Carne's loose grip and took a step back, straightening his posture while he continued to glare at his chefs. Around him, the clanging sounds of pots and pans subsided and Sanji could feel everyone's eyes on him again.

"If you can remember that I saved those Marines, Pati, then I won't have to remind you that I don't care if I was pardoned or not," he said as calmly as he could. "I am a pirate, and until the day I die, that is what I will be. One thing I learnt from my captain is that once a man becomes a pirate, he stays a pirate, no matter where his life takes him."

"You're insane," Carne muttered, glaring back at Sanji behind the dark glasses. "If Fire Fist Ace is here in East Blue, the Marines are never far away. He is the most wanted man in the world except for the Pirate King."

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?" Sanji said loudly, not caring what anyone would think of him. "I don't _care_! If I was to face the worst bounty hunter in the world, I still wouldn't deny the fact that I'm a pirate. My loyalty to my captain is stronger than that, and don't you _ever_ forget that!"

And with that, Sanji turned around, scooped up the trays with his nakama's food and stormed out of the kitchen, anger radiating from him like invisible fire. He knew very well that the two older men were just trying to protect him, even if they were doing so in an incredibly clumsy manner. But he didn't need their protection, and he definitely didn't want it if it meant that he would have to turn his back to everything that meant anything to him.

– e – e –

As the doors swung shut behind the head chef, Pati and Carne looked at each other, both of them sighing deeply. They were just about to go back to work when a thin voice was heard behind them, startling the two men lightly.

"The owner used to be a pirate?"

Turning around, Carne found the three young apprentices standing behind one of the counters, looking very intimidated by the scene that just had played before them. He nodded slowly, rubbing his left temple lightly as he searched for the right words. Failing to do so, he figured that he could just tell the truth and then return to work as if nothing had happened. But before he could do so, another voice spoke up in his place.

"Yeah, and a really strong one too," Pati said as he took up the knife and continued to prepare the fish for that day's dinner. "He used to be the vice head chef on a restaurant just like this one, but then one day, he became the cook on a pirate ship. Heh heh… Do you remember the day he left, Carne?"

"Yeah," Carne replied, chuckling lightly as he stirred the soup in front of him on the stove. "And I remember that captain of his as well. Such a crazy boy is hard to forget, right? Especially with the power of that Devil's Fruit he ate."

The three boys stared at Pati and Carne with their eyes widening, apparently not believing what they were being told. One of the cyan-haired twins seemed to gather his courage and took a step forward.

"The owner's captain ate a Devil's Fruit? Which one? Who was he?"

Carne chuckled and turned to look at the boys over the edge of his glasses.

"I think you've all heard of him. The man who can stretch his body like rubber. The man who found the One Piece. The King of Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy."

The three boys and even some of the other chefs gasped as Carne uttered the name, and almost everyone in the kitchen turned away from the counters to look towards the swinging doors behind which the head chef had disappeared.For some of the chefs, another type of respect towards the head chef was formed at that moment. A man who had traveled with the Pirate King was sure to be a man worth all the respect he could get.

* * *

_Nee... I hope you enjoyed that chapter.  
I have enough material for another chapter, but it needs tons of work, so it'll probably take a while until my next update for this story. Hopefully, I'll be able to come up with more material while I'm working with the next chapter. I already have the end figured out in my head, all I have to do is work my way there._

_Namibean - I'm actually not much for future fics, but this story just came to me and said "Write me or else" when I was out for a walk, so I started writing it. I'm glad that you like it so far, though._

_Digitaldreamer - So, tell me:Was the new guest the one you thought it was?_


	4. About stories and flashbacks

When he pushed the doors to the dining hall open, Sanji forced himself to look calm, even though he could feel his anger still radiating from him with enough force for anyone to see the flames shooting around him. However, his mood was heightened a bit as he looked around the dining hall, which seemed to get more and more crowded as time passed. At a table below the stairs to the second floor, a beautiful pink-haired woman was calling for his attention while casting cold glares towards the table where Usopp was entertaining Ace and Chopper with one of his tall tales.

Sanji walked up to the table where the pink-haired woman was sitting next to a thin older man, bowing lightly as he introduced himself as the head chef of the restaurant. Even though he was still concentrating hard to avoid letting his temper affect the guests and to keep balancing the two trays in his hands and the tray resting on top of his blond hair properly, he had no problems with finding words to compliment the woman's beauty.

"Oh love, how thou pains me by letting my humble eyes fall on such divine beauty. You, my lady, must be an angel sent to ease my aching heart-"

"Can't you do something about those men over there?" the woman demanded, apparently immune to Sanji's charm. "They are being awfully noisy."

A bit disappointed that he had been interrupted before he even had had the chance to start flattering the woman, Sanji put on a light smile and bowed once again, feeling his bad mood grow even worse than before. He was careful not to show it, though, figuring that he could always take out some of his frustration on Usopp - it had been a while since he had had the opportunity to do that.

"I will see to that immediately, my lady," he said courteously.

He turned away and calmly walked across the room towards the table where his nakama were enjoying themselves. Usopp seemed to be in the middle of telling another story, and was gesticulating wildly while he spoke. Ace and Chopper were keeping their eyes on the storyteller, apparently enjoying the story. Looking around, Sanji got the impression that some of the guests were listening to whatever tall tale Usopp was telling. When Sanji got closer to the table, Usopp's voice mentioning a certain name reached his ears over the buzz of other voices in the large room, and the chef slowed down his pace, strangely enough interested in the topic.

"…and then, when we were surrounded by at least five hundred enemies, I suddenly got an idea. I reached out my hand and said 'Luffy, take my hand!' He took it, and I started to spin around where I stood, pulling Luffy with me. When his arm started to stretch and he began moving closer to the circle of enemies, he understood what I was trying to do. So he braced himself as he flew into the circle of enemies, plowing through them like a hot knife through butter."

Usopp shrugged lightly and leaned back in his chair, looking very pleased with himself.

"That's how the Lusopp Carousel was invented. In a matter of minutes, all the enemies were wiped out by our combined strength."

Ace and Chopper started to laugh, and the reindeer even clapped his hooves together while trying to keep himself from falling backwards off the chair. Sanji smiled lightly as he wondered if Chopper still believed everything Usopp said without a single doubt.

"Oi, '_captain_'," he said, putting down the trays with food on the table, both greeted and thanked by Chopper and Ace's cheerful voices (they sounded a bit muffled as they both tried to keep themselves from laughing in his face). "Are you finished?"

"Uh…" Usopp turned around, looking a bit confused. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Too bad, then I might just regret doing this…"

Sanji raised his right leg from the floor and let the hard heel of his shoe drop down hard onto Usopp's head, causing the marksman to crash head-first to the floor. Feeling some of his aggression fade away, the chef put his foot back on the floor and looked thoughtful (with some difficulty since the surprised look on Usopp's face made him want to laugh).

"Nope, I don't regret it. Keep it down now, you're disturbing my guests."

Usopp got up on his knees on the floor, rubbing his head and moving one of his hands in front of his face to see if he was bleeding. Then he glared darkly at Sanji.

"Damn Love Cook, don't tell me you listened to that snobby woman over there," he growled, slowly getting up from the floor. "She's known all over East Blue for her endless whining about everything she sees. It's a miracle that the old man she's with hasn't gone completely mental by now."

"I don't care," Sanji replied as coldly as he could. "As long as she or any other guest is aboard this restaurant, I will do anything to make sure that their stay here is as pleasant as possible. This would include getting rid of disturbing elements like you."

There was a dramatic change in Usopp's face as the he suddenly grinned widely. Sanji raised a curled eyebrow, wondering what the liar was up to this time.

"Well, since you've just served us our food, wouldn't that make us guests?" Usopp asked, the sly smile turning into a pleased smirk.

Sanji could barely hide a smile as he realized that there wasn't much he could do but to admit defeat. Usopp was right - they were his guests, just like the other people in the dining hall. Not that he was going to admit it to the others, but still... He pulled out a chair next to Usopp while glaring at the sniper.

"You're not _paying_ customers," he muttered. "If I hadn't known you for ten years, you wouldn't see a single bread crumb without paying for it."

He smirked lightly and gestured for the plates with food on the table, slightly amazed that none of the three pirates had started eating yet.

"Now eat up, boys. There's plenty more where that came from."

As Usopp, Chopper and Ace reached out to grab a plate each, Sanji took off the pink apron and hanged it over the back of the chair he had pulled out. Then he sat down, contently watching the three pirates in front of him eat. The promise about there being more food hadn't been something he had planned to make, since he did remember the half-empty freezers and how very much like his younger brother Ace could be when it came to food. But as he watched the pirates, he got the feeling that Usopp and Chopper would consider going with him back to All Blue for supplies if he asked them. That would clearly make the journey more enjoyable, even if he would have preferred it to be Nami-san and Robin-chan instead of the two clowns in front of him.

Leaning back in his chair, Sanji fished up the packet of smokes from his pocket, opened it and stuck a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. Before he could reach for his box of matches or his lighter, the end of the cigarette suddenly burst into flames, causing the chef to blink in surprise. The fire quickly subsided to embers, and when Sanji looked up, Ace nodded once towards him and smiled before he returned to his breakfast. Sanji couldn't hold back a smile in return as he blew out a thin mist of smoke in the air.

"By the way…" he said after a few minutes and turned to look at Usopp, who just emptied the last plate of fried eggs. "That story you just told…"

"What about it?" Usopp asked as he pushed the empty plate away and leaned back in his chair with a content sigh. "Ahh… Thanks for the food, Sanji. It was the best meal I've eaten in years."

"Did you really meet Luffy, or was it just another story?" Sanji inquired, not quite sure why he was so eager to know the truth.

"I was wondering that myself," Ace chipped in, looking curiously at the rest of them over the stack of empty plates in front of him as he put down his fork. "I've been looking all over the oceans for my little brother, but I haven't been able to find him anywhere."

"No, the story I just told is actually true, and we really did meet him." Usopp said, accompanied by a nodding Chopper. "It was just when Chopper and I entered the Grand Line again after being in South Blue, about eight months ago. He was playing with Labun – that huge whale we met back when we first came to the Grand Line, if you remember him – down by the foot of Reverse Mountain and he asked if he could come with us for a while. Though he took off on his own after we visited two islands, saying that there was something he had to do, and I haven't seen him since then."

Sanji looked up as four of the guests walked past them, faintly praising the food and the service while casting nervous glances towards the pirates before they hurried out through the open doors.

"Thank you, and please come again next time we return to East Blue!" Sanji called after them, silently wondering if those guests ever would return. He then turned back towards Usopp, feeling what was left of his previous good mood slowly being drained from his body.

"So he took off alone in the middle of the Grand Line? Then it must have been something really important he had to do."

Usopp and Chopper shrugged simultaneously, and the long-nosed man reached up to the tiny skull-shaped pin by his shoulder, which held the brown cloak together around his neck.

"I guess so, but I don't really care," he said, releasing the pin from the cloth. "If he had wanted me to know what he was up to, he would have told me. All I know is that if he hadn't gone with us that time, I wouldn't be alive now."

Sanji's eyes widened slightly as Usopp removed the cloak from his shoulders, revealing the scars of four deep, even slashes running from the right shoulder to the left hip across his chest under the torn bright green overalls he was wearing. The chef found himself staring as hypnotized by the pale scars for a short moment, wondering to himself who –or what– could have caused such wounds. Even to Sanji's untrained eye, it was perfectly clear that if the gashes had been only a hair's-breadth deeper or less than a centimeter higher up, Usopp would probably have bled to death in a matter of seconds.

He wanted to ask Usopp what had happened, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he felt like he really didn't need to know. If Usopp was to tell him about it, he would listen, but the need to know that had flared up inside him had already faded away. However, just as Sanji decided not to ask about it, Usopp started telling the story.

"When we reached the first island on the route we chose, we happened to meet Captain Kuro, the bastard who threatened my village – I told you about him once, didn't I? Anyway, they had anchored on the opposite side of the island from where we landed, and while we were looking for food, we accidentally stepped right into the Kuroneko Clan's base camp."

Usopp made a pause to wrap the cloak around his shoulders again, a shadow flashing across his face as he put the little pin in its place. But when he looked up again, the shadow was gone, and he smiled cheerily, almost as if he was telling one of his old tall tales. Next to him, Chopper had stopped eating his pancakes and was listening intently to Usopp's words, looking almost as if he had never heard the story before or even been there when it happened. Usopp leaned forward against the table, almost as if he was to say something that was top secret.

"Apparently, Captain Kuro hadn't forgotten about us and he wanted revenge for what we had done to him. So before the three of us knew it, we were in the middle of a fight against Kuro and his clan. At first, it seemed to go pretty well for us, but that was only because Kuro himself didn't participate in the battle. But just as Chopper and Luffy took down the two best fighters in the clan, Kuro made a leap directly at me, the ten blades at the tips of his fingers gleaming as he reached out for me."

The sniper shivered lightly, as if the memory was too horrible to think of. Sanji caught himself having a hard time believing that the story Usopp was telling actually was true, but he kept quiet and waited for the sniper to continue. In the corner of his eye, he could see Ace leaning forward against the table, a concentrated look on his face as he also listened intently to the story.

"I just froze where I stood, watching that man coming towards me almost as if time suddenly had slowed down. It was almost like I could feel the blades cutting me before they even touched me, but then I felt someone grab hold of me, pulling me backwards and away from the danger. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Luffy's hand holding a firm grip around the shoulder-straps of my overalls and his outstretched arm was pulling me back so that Kuro's claws couldn't cut me to shreds. But the bastard still got me quite good…"

The sniper added the last part with a lower, growling tone of voice, his eyes narrowing lightly as if he in his mind returned to the day he was injured. Then the dark expression on his face faded, and he seemed to realize that he was no longer on that island in the beginning of the Grand Line, but on the restaurant Sagatie with three of his nakama in front of him.

"Luffy defeated him again after that," Usopp finished, looking very proud as he said it. He reached out his hand and patted Chopper lightly on the shoulder. "And if it hadn't been for this guy, I could have died on that island. He patched me up really good and saved my life."

Chopper looked like he was about to protest loudly, but as he glanced over at the other guests in the room, he simply blushed heavily and stuffed what was left of his pancakes into his mouth and pretended like he hadn't heard what Usopp said. Usopp on the other hand chuckled happily, almost as if he had completely forgotten about the story he had just told.

"Aah, it's great having more people to talk to," he said with a wide grin. "Ne, Sanji, how about it? Do you want to join us and go back out to sea again?"

Sanji tapped the ashes off his cigarette and leaned back in his chair. It was tempting to accept the invitation, but he still had the Sagatie to take care of. Therefore, he gently shook his head, puffing out a ring of smoke in the air.

"Thanks, but no thanks," he said with a teasing smirk. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with you as my captain, Usopp."

"Alright," Usopp said with a shrug, looking very disappointed as he turned away from Sanji. "Just tell me if you change your mind. How about you, Ace? We could use someone with your strength."

The freckled pirate cackled cheerfully, almost startling Sanji by breaking the silence he had kept for the past minutes. Sanji had got the impression that Ace had fallen asleep once again by the relaxed way the pirate had been leaning against the table. Noticing that he was awake came therefore as a slight shock to the chef.

"I'm afraid that I have to decline as well," Ace said, pushing his orange hat to the back of his head. "But if you're planning on staying in East Blue a while, I wouldn't mind coming along until I find the man I'm looking for."

Sanji smiled as Usopp and Chopper cheered, wishing that he could join in their happiness. He didn't want his nakama to believe that he didn't want to be a pirate anymore, because that was as far from the truth as anyone could possibly come. No, a large part of him _did_ want to be a pirate again, but his restaurant was far too important for him to just give it up. After all, it was the symbol of the goal he had finally reached, and the only thing that reminded him of the man who had taught him everything he knew.

"There's one thing I don't really get…" Ace said with delay as Usopp and Chopper had calmed down a little bit. He took off his hat and placed it on the table next to the large stack of empty plates. "I've been sitting here, watching the three of you talking to each other just like you used to do before, and I just can't figure out why your clan split up in the first place. I mean, I heard about it only a few months ago, and I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it, actually."

A short moment of silence followed, where Ace watched the three former Straw Hat pirates warily.

"It wasn't because of my brother, was it?" he asked carefully to break the silence. "Did something happen to him that I haven't heard of?"

"No!" Usopp hurried to say, slamming his hands against the table. "No, no, nothing like that. I'm sure..."

He hesitated and smiled lightly, almost looking a little embarrassed.

"Actually, I'm not really sure why it happened, One day, Luffy gathered all of us – we were only about ten or eleven at that time, I think… Yeah it was on the first island we came to after Keira left for South Blue – and said that we were going take separate paths. He said 'I can't make you reach your goals, you have to do it on your own' or something like that. He let me have the ship, though. Said that he could always find another ship…"

Ace frowned and leaned forward against the table with his chin resting in his hand.

"Huh… That doesn't sound like my brother at all," he said confusedly. "The last time we met, I got the impression that he was going to keep the clan together forever no matter what happened."

As Usopp and Chopper started telling Ace about their own theories to why they split up, Sanji stopped listening to the rest of the conversation. He remembered the events that had led to the end of the Straw Hat clan all too well, and he was not in the mood to listen to Usopp and Chopper's awkward suggestions to what could have happened that made Luffy take such an uncharacteristic decision.

– e – e –

_Outside Tomat Island, somewhere in the Grand Line, 12 months earlier._

"Sanji, what are you doing?"

The cook shut his eyes as the voice of his captain reached his ears. He was standing in the galley aboard the Going Merry, carefully packing his personal knives and other kitchen utensils into their boxes and putting them in a large bag on the floor. Of course, he had known that he would have to face Luffy sooner or later, but he felt that it would have been better if he had gotten the opportunity to choose the time and place himself. Preparing himself, Sanji sighed and turned around, meeting the questioning look in the captain's eyes. This was going to be much harder than he had thought.

"I'm leaving, Luffy."

There, he had said it. Now all he had to do was to await the captain's reaction. Sanji had never before been so glad that he had been left to guard the ship with Luffy while the other crewmembers were stocking up on fresh water and other things in the little town they had anchored by. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to step in while he was defending the path he had chosen.

"No, you're not." The answer was like a gunshot in the silence that had followed Sanji's announcement. Folding his arms across his chest in a determined gesture, he looked straight into the cook's eyes. Sanji met his eyes with an almost equally stubborn gaze.

"Yes, I am," he repeated, ready to do whatever it would take to get Luffy to understand that he had made up his mind. "I've already made preparations. I'm not going with you from this island. I'm going back to All Blue on my own."

The look in the black-haired man's eyes suddenly changed from determined to something Sanji couldn't quite catch.

"But why?" the captain demanded to know, still keeping eye-contact with Sanji. The cook sighed once more, but didn't take his eyes from Luffy's face.

"From the beginning, I joined you because I felt that I would be able to find All Blue if I did. And now, I've found it, thanks to you – thanks to everyone. But now that the old man is dead, I want to get my own floating restaurant, so that I can feed the ones who are hungry at sea."

"You can do that here," Luffy insisted, and Sanji caught the light, desperate tone in the captain's voice. "I won't eat the food, I promise."

"Your appetite is not why I'm leaving, Luffy," Sanji said powerlessly, knowing very well what a great sacrifice Luffy set up for himself by making such a promise. "And people won't come to a pirate ship, you know that as well as I do. Especially not the pirate ship that belongs to the Pirate King himself."

"Don't you like it here?"

"Of course I do. You know that I love this ship. It's just-" Sanji's voice trailed off, not really sure what he was going to say. The pleading look in the captain's dark eyes had mentally thrown him out of balance. "I'm destined to be a chef, Luffy, just like you were always destined to become the King of Pirates. I've never done anything to stand in your way, so why are you trying to stop me from fulfilling my dream?"

His words seemed to have a great impact on Luffy, because the pleading look in his eyes faded and was replaced by something Sanji interpreted as understanding. The captain turned around, making it clear that the discussion was over as he walked back towards the open door.

"But you'll stay until we set sail again?" Luffy asked, turning his head to look at Sanji once he reached the door.

"Yes, I'll stay on the island when you leave," Sanji said, nodding lightly. When the captain turned away again, the chef called out for him. "Luffy?"

"Huh?" Luffy turned towards Sanji again, a curious look in his eyes.

"I'm still your nakama, right? Even if we're not traveling together…"

"Yeah, of course!"

Luffy grinned widely, the previous gloominess gone without a trace. Then he walked out through the door to find something else to do, leaving Sanji to finish packing his things in the galley.

Later that day, when the rest of the crew had returned, the chiming sound of Luffy's voice calling them all to the galley echoed all over the harbor. Sanji was the third person to enter the galley, where Luffy, Usopp and Nami were already sitting around the table. After him, Kyle and Zoro tried to enter at the same time, causing a small but noisy fight that blocked the entire doorway. Groaning, Sanji found that he wasn't nearly annoyed enough to do something about the seaweed-head and the blue-haired surfer. Instead, he wandered off towards the kitchen area, where he swiftly prepared drinks for the ten crewmembers. When he was done and carried the tray to the table where the whole crew had finally gathered, Luffy, who was sitting cross-legged on a chair, spoke up as he reached out to take a glass.

"We're not going to sail together anymore," he said with a neutral voice, his usually bright face showing hardly any emotions at all.

A heavy silence fell in the room as everyone stared at the captain, wondering what he was talking about. Sanji sat down on an empty place on the bench, lighting what had to be his twenty-fifth cigarette that day. He wasn't really counting, but he was already on his third pack for the day, and if he kept up that pace, he would already have started on his fifth before nightfall.

"I've been thinking," the Pirate King continued with the same neutral voice. "And I think that I've done what I can for you now."

"What're ya talkin' 'bout, aniki?" Kyle asked, rubbing at the large blue bump in his forehead, the only trace of the fight he had had with Zoro earlier.

"I can't make you reach your goals. You have to reach them yourself." Luffy said, turning to look at Kyle with his round eyes almost completely blank. "I can't give you the best song in the world."

He turned his head to look at his crew, still talking as he let his eyes sweep over each and every one of them.

"I can't draw a map over the world; I don't know anything about medicine or about old glyph-things; I can't make anyone brave and I don't know how to build a flying ship. But _you_ can, and you do. And I'm not gonna stand in your way, so I'm breaking up the clan now."

Sanji watched silently how most of the crew stood up, all of them loudly questioning the captain's decision. Except for two of them. To Sanji's right, Robin was studying the contents of the glass she was holding with a strange kind of bored interest, and across the table, Zoro looked like he was about to fall asleep at any minute. Resisting the sudden urge to kick the swordsman, Sanji got up from the bench. At the same moment he got up, Luffy put down his glass on the table and stood up, watching his crew with a serious look in his eyes.

"So, pack your things and leave when you want. I'm going to see the town now."

And with that, he had left the room, leaving his baffled crew in the galley without any explanation.

"He has to be joking," Nami said, laughing nervously as she poked at the small glass-sphere that was strapped to her wrist. "We're in the middle of the Grand Line, and this is the only Log Pose we've got."

Three or four of the other crewmembers agreed. Then Manti, the red-headed half of the musical duo, who was sitting on top of the table with his feet on the bench below, spoke up.

"You know, I think Luffy-aniki is right…" Noticing the glares the other crewmembers sent him, he continued talking. "I mean, some of us haven't got much closer to our goals since we joined the crew, and I was just thinking that maybe we would do better on our own..."

"I think it would be for the best if we were to discuss this before deciding what we'll do," Robin said calmly without taking her eyes from the glass in her hands. "Our captain seems to have made up his mind about this, and we should respect that. However, packing up to leave the ship right away without proper planning would be a very unwise thing to do."

"I think there's an inventor in town who knows how to create Log Poses," Usopp chipped in, nervously tugging at the ragged sash around his waist. "If we could get one each, I think we'd be much safer… I mean, if we decide to split up."

At that time, Sanji silently left the galley and headed off to the stern of the ship, where he leaned against the railing, silently smoking his cigarette while looking out over the ocean. He would never have expected that leaving the ship was going to trigger something like this. After all, he wasn't the first one to leave. Three of their nakama had already left for their own little adventures in search of their dreams, and Luffy had just waved after them, wishing them luck as their boats disappeared towards the horizon. So why was he acting so strange this time?

Snorting, Sanji flicked what was left of his cigarette out into the ocean. The memory of a drawing Luffy had made of him years earlier came to his mind – a messy scribble where you could almost make out the plate of meat, the form of Sanji's face, hair and the curled eyebrow if you tilted your head and squinted – and he remembered the text Usopp had added to it.

_All-mighty Sanji, bringer of all that is meat._

Almost the whole crew had found that extremely funny by some weird reason Sanji couldn't understand. Of course, he had to admit that he hadn't been able to hide a light smile when he first laid eyes on the drawing that looked like someone around the age of four had made it. Somehow, when one started to get used to Luffy's drawingstyle and actually could make out what a drawing was supposed to be within the first three minutes, it was hard not to smile at it, no matter how stupid it was.

Maybe that was why Luffy was behaving so strangely. Because the one providing the meat was leaving. After all, meat was the thing that occupied the captain's mind during at least 95 percentof a normal day, when he wasn't looking for adventure or trying to persuade his crew to play with him. Stupid childish idiot. You'd think that the King of Pirates would act a little more mature, especially since he just had turned twenty-six. Then again, Sanji mused, it was thanks to Luffy's childish whims they had ended up finding the legendary treasure in the first place.

Sanji shook his head to clear it. Why was he thinking about that now? It didn't really matter anymore, did it? The clan was probably going to split up anyway, and for all he knew, it was his fault...

"_Sanji?"_

– e – e –

"Sanji? Hey, are you still there?"

Blinking in confusion, Sanji looked at Usopp, who was leaning over the table towards him. The marksman snapped his fingers right in front of Sanji's eyes, causing the chef to flinch lightly. He hadn't noticed that he had sunken so deep into his thoughts, and it made him feel a bit alarmed. Shaking his head, he blinked once more, trying to sort out where he was and what was going on.

"There you are," Usopp said cheerfully, looking relieved as he moved away from Sanji. "It looked like you fell asleep there for a minute. What happened?"

"Sorry…" Sanji muttered, feeling a throbbing headache beginning to grow in the area around his temples. Rubbing the left side of his head lightly, he looked around the table at the three pirates, meeting their lightly worried gaze. "Mental vacation …"

"Mental vacation?" Usopp asked, frowning as he looked warily at Sanji. "I haven't heard that expression in months. But I remember that Kyle used to say that."

Sanji groaned lightly. Great, so now he was channeling the shitty blue-haired musician? What else could happen that could probably be worse than that? He got a reply to that question quicker than he had expected when he suddenly felt a weight leaning heavily against his left side. Turning his head, he saw Chopper standing on a chair next to him while looking up at him with a concerned look in his dark eyes. As the reindeer put a hoof on Sanji's forehead, the chef subconsciously tried to move away, but was immediately admonished by Chopper.

"37,9 degrees…" Chopper muttered, a serious expression taking form on his graying face. "You have a fever, Sanji. Maybe you should rest a little."

Sanji gently pushed Chopper's hoof away from his face, not in the mood to be babied by anyone – and especially not the furry little doctor. He had never been sick a day in his life, and he sure didn't plan to get sick either. The headache was already fading away, just as the memory that had flashed through his mind only a minute earlier.

Wondering to himself how long he had been caught in his own thoughts, Sanji glanced up at the clock above the entrance, realizing that it was already way past nine in the morning. Jumping up from where he was sitting, he startled the other three to the point where Chopper fell off the chair he was standing on and Usopp and Ace both took a defensive stance.

"Sorry, but time flies," Sanji said with a light smile. "I have to see so that my chefs are getting everything ready for the lunch hours. Why are you looking at me like that, Chopper?" He added the last part as he helped the little doctor up from the floor.

Chopper was looking up at Sanji with a very serious expression on his silver-stained face. His gaze was making Sanji feel very uncomfortable.

"You seem very stressed, Sanji," Chopper said, brushing a little dust off his red pants. "What's wrong?"

When Sanji looked up, he saw Usopp nodding on the other side of the table. The marksman also had a very serious expression on his face.

"Yeah, I've never seen you so stressed out before. You weren't even this worked up that time when you had to cook for 24 hours straight to save that starving village in the Grand Line six years ago."

Sanji cursed silently, wondering if he really looked that stressed. Sure, he had been feeling a little stressed out since more and more people found out about his restaurant, but he hadn't thought much about it. After all, he had known that it was a whole different thing to be the head chef of a restaurant than being the cook aboard a pirate ship before he even bought the Sagatie. And the time he had helped feeding those starving villagers had definitely not been nearly as stressful as running a famous restaurant.

"I just didn't get much sleep last night with the mess that Kaji-kid made," he said, smirking reassuringly at Chopper. It wasn't a complete lie, since he hadn't slept more than three hours - more or less - that night. "Don't worry so much, I'm fine."

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any of the three pirates believed him. As Sanji turned away and started to walk away from the table to, he could hear his nakama as they turned to each other over the table, saying in unison:

"He's faking it."

Closing his eyes, Sanji had to gather all his willpower to keep himself from walking straight back to that table and give the pirates a piece of his mind. Every fiber in his body was urging him to start a fight, which he knew would be just the thing he needed to keep his mood up for the rest of the day. But just as he was about to push the doors to the kitchen open, he could hear the footsteps of more guests arriving. Then, a very familiar female voice was heard from the entrance.

"You were right, they are open for guests. Now where is that inventor? I can swear that the ship out there carried his flag. Usopp, I know that you're here! Show yourself!"

Swiveling around where he stood, Sanji felt his head fluttering by the melodic sound of the voice. As he turned around and laid eyes on the orange-haired woman who stormed up to the table where the three pirates were sitting, Sanji felt an indescribable happiness flowing through him. The feeling was enhanced only seconds later when his eyes fell on the second woman who walked in through the door. Tall, dark and beautiful, her presence was enough to draw the attention of just about all the men in the dining hall.

The aching hole in Sanji's chest suddenly felt like it shrank to the size of a pea, and the chef hurried into the kitchen, several ideas for what kind of breakfast he was going to prepare for the women. His day was suddenly getting better and better.

* * *

**A/N:** _Okay, I thought that I should include a small flashback in this chapter, to let everyone know what led to the dissolvement of the Straw Hat Clan. I don't know how well it turned out, or how much in character they are there, but there it is. I'm afraid that the chapters are turning out too much like pointless rambling, and if that's the case, please tell me so that I can try to fix it._

_Digitaldreamer - You know, I want Luffy to appear as well. Patience is a virtue, but oh so painful at times... x-x_

_FieryKitsune - Surprises are indeed fun, I have to agree with that. I just hope that I can keep the rhythm in the story until the end. It would be bad if the chapters got worse and worse as it went on._

_Kawari - Don't worry, I think your English is fine. I liked the last part of that chapter as well. It was fun to write Sanji's little speech about the loyalty to his captain. I'm glad you like my story, and I'll send you a mail as soon as I get this chapter uploaded._


	5. An owner's responsibilities

"Usopp, I know that you're here! Show yourself!"

Turning around by the mentioning of his name, Usopp was at first not sure if he had heard right. Then he spotted the orange-haired woman dressed in white and dark beige who came storming towards their table, and his eyes widened.

"Nami? Is that you? What are you-"

"Why didn't you tell me that the Clima Tact's power would weaken?"

Being interrupted by such a question startled the marksman and caused him to fall silent for a short moment. Blinking, he leaned back with one hand hanging over the back of his chair while he looked at Nami, who just came up next to him.

"What? I don't understand-"

Once again, he was interrupted. This time by the loud noise as Nami slammed three metal pipes against the table. On the opposite side of the table, Chopper squeaked and took cover behind Ace, who silently watched the scene with great interest.

"I'm talking about these," Nami said while locking eyes with Usopp, a very threatening look on her face. "They just stopped working in the middle of a battle. We were almost killed thanks to that!"

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do about it?" Usopp asked heatedly, trying to put on an equally threatening expression. He failed quite miserably, since the dark look in Nami's eyes was scaring him just as much as it always had done in the past.

Nami obviously still had the ability to be very intimidating when she wanted to. Usopp remembered that he once had said that Nami's scariness wasn't as much an ability as the ones gained from Devil's Fruits, but it was just as effective or even better at times, since she could still swim.

"I don't know! Just fix them! You're the one who invented them in the first place." Nami spread out her arms as she continued to look down at the marksman.

"Yeah, yeah," Usopp sighed in defeat. "I'll take a look at them. By the way, it's nice to see you too, Nami."

The orange-head sighed and flopped down on the chair next to Usopp, where Chopper had been sitting during their breakfast. She cocked her head lightly to the side and leaned her right shoulder against the back of her chair.

"I'm sorry, Usopp. It's great to see you again." She turned her head and seemed to notice the two other pirates by the table. "Oh. Ace, Chopper, are you two also here?"

While Nami was greeted by the other pirates, Usopp picked up one of the metal pipes from the table, identified it as the Cold Tact and started looking for what could be wrong with it. At first, he had to search his memory for the technique he had used when he first constructed the Tacts almost ten years earlier, but as the blueprints appeared in his mind, he found it a lot easier to search for the problem. He realized, however, that he wasn't wearing his improved sniper goggles, and figured that he would have to go back to the ship later to retrieve them before he could make a thorough inspection of the Tacts.

As he was studying the Cold Tact, Usopp could hear someone walking up to his right, followed by the sound of a chair being pulled out. When he looked up, he was met by the analyzing gaze of a pair of iceblue eyes, shaded by the brim of a white and purple cowboy hat.

"Robin!" his voice was a bit louder than he had intended, but Usopp hoped that Robin wouldn't have noticed how surprised he was to see her. "I didn't see you come in. Nice to see you again."

As he put the Tact back next to the other two, Robin sat down to his right and leaned against the table with her chin propped against the palm of her hand.

"Likewise," she replied, a serene smile adorning her face. "And it is nice to see you as well, Doctor-san; D-san,"

She nodded towards Ace, who was trying to persuade Chopper to come out from behind the chair where he was hiding. Looking up in time to see Robin's greeting, Ace grinned widely and bowed lightly in return before he went back to calming the little doctor, who still wasn't convinced that Nami had finished shouting.

The rest of the greetings that followed were suddenly interrupted by a bubbly, amorous, and overjoyed voice coming from the other side of the dining hall. It made a few of the other guests turn around in their seats to see what was going on, while the pirates hardly made any movement as the voice reached them.

"Nami-swaaaan, Robin-chwaaan! How wonderful it is to see you again! With the passing of each day, I have missed you with all my aching heart. I hope that you don't mind that I whipped up a small breakfast, in which I've poured all my undying love for you…"

As Sanji waltzed over to the table, carrying a large tray with food that looked like the breakfast he had served to Ace, Chopper and Usopp – only more delicious – the latter resumed the examination of the different parts of Nami's Clima Tact. While he was examining the Heat Tact, he caught himself wondering how the heck Sanji possibly could have made breakfast for Nami and Robin in such a short period of time. Then Nami's voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"Sanji-kun? Are you working here? I never would have guessed…"

"No, Sanji-kun owns this place," Usopp chipped in without taking his eyes from the Tact in his hands. "I heard one of the waiters calling him 'Owner' earlier…"

Nami's eyes widened and she turned her head to look at Sanji, who was serving Robin a cup of coffee to her breakfast.

"Sanji-kun owns this restaurant?" she asked with a smile. "That's wonderful!"

"If it doesn't end up killing him…" Chopper muttered as he peeked out from behind Ace's chair. He still looked warily at Nami, but seemed to have been convinced that Nami's anger had gone away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nami asked, frowning as she looked from Chopper to Sanji.

Sanji sent the doctor a cold glare before he resumed offering Robin sugar and cream for her coffee. The little reindeer caught the glare and hid behind the chair again.

"Chopper just thinks that I'm too stressed, Nami-san," he calmly explained, nodding with a smile as Robin said that she preferred her coffee black. "No need to worry about me."

Nami smiled and turned to start eating her breakfast. As soon as she put the first piece of her omelette in her mouth, her smile widened and she made a delighted sound that sounded almost like a mewing cat.

"It's delicious, Sanji-kun. It tastes even better than I remembered it."

"Only the best is good enough for you, Nami-swan, Robin-chwan."

Sanji smiled softly, picked up the empty tray and started loading it with the stacks of empty plates and glasses that still were on the table after the first breakfast he had served. Turning away, he walked across the room towards the kitchen again, still smiling to himself. It had been a long time since he had felt that happy, and nothing seemed to be able to make his mood drop. Or so he thought. Just as he reached the kitchen, the silverdoors were pushed wide open, revealing a very annoyed-looking Pati.

"More friends of yours?" the mintgreen-haired man asked in a hushed manner, folding his muscular arms across his chest.

The smile on Sanji's face faded instantly, and was transformed into a dark glare as he looked up at his best chef. By some reason, he felt very annoyed over the fact that the older man was almost a head taller than him, and it was hard for him to keep his voice down when he spoke.

"If you have something to discuss with me, please refrain from doing so in front of my guests. Kitchen. _Now."_

The doors had barely swung shut behind Sanji before the older chef turned towards him, accompanied by Carne and two other chefs. Putting the tray of empty plates on a counter to his right, Sanji looked at his employees, who stared back at him without saying a word.

"Is there a problem out here?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know if you realize it, Sanji, but your so-called guests are scaring the other customers," Carne said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," Pati said gruffly, still with his arms folded across his chest. "Now, there's not only Fire Fist Ace, Usopp the Liar and Dr. Chopper out there in the dining hall – and we all know that all of them are in alliance with the Pirate King – but now you've let Nico Robin and the woman known as the Tangerine Treasure Hunter stay here as well!"

"I am fully aware of that, yes," Sanji replied in a bored voice. He was so tired of the same old conflicts, and he was only waiting for someone to inform him about Nami and Robin's bounties. "But my question was if there is some kind of problem out here."

A pair of hands, large as cannonballs and lined with thin, pale scars landed heavily on Sanji's shoulders. Sanji hardly blinked as Pati stared into his eyes.

"Listen, Sanji. They're your nakama, I know that, but you of all people should know that they can't stay here. I usually couldn't care less what kinds of people show up here, as long as they're paying customers, not even pirates. But those people are bad for the Sagatie's reputation."

"Are you going to give me this speech every time someone from my old life shows up here, Pati?" Sanji asked coldly, glaring up at the older man. "Because I'm tired of it already."

"Sanji, come to your senses!" Carne snapped from behind Pati. The longhaired man pushed his sunglasses further up on the bridge of his nose and looked seriously at Sanji. "People here are scared, and we're going to lose customers because of them!"

Tired of being lectured, Sanji tore free from Pati's grip around his shoulders. He took a step backwards to get out of the chef's reach and looked darkly at the men in front of him, aware of the fact that all the chefs and waiters in the kitchen plus the three young apprentices were gathering behind Pati and Carne. His eyes narrowed stubbornly as he straightened his back.

"They are staying. If anyone has a problem with that or can't take my word when I say that they are not going to harm the restaurant or the guests, he can pack his things and leave. I don't need cowards on my ship."

For the second time in three hours, Sanji left the kitchen with anger boiling inside him. He emerged from behind the silverdoors and immediately set his course towards the table where his nakama were sitting. As he passed through the dining hall, he noticed that there were a lot of empty tables which he knew had been occupied only minutes earlier. It seemed like Pati and Carne had been right, and it was very disturbing for Sanji to admit that. He only hoped that no one would inform the Marines about the whereabouts of Fire Fist Ace and five of the Pirate King's closest nakama.

When he reached the table, he pulled up a chair and sat down, realizing too late that he hadn't quite managed to get the annoyed look off his face.

"Are you alright, Sanji-kun?"

He looked up and met the questioning look in Nami's eyes, forcing a light smile. The slightly worried tone in her voice made him want to assure her that everything was fine, but he could hardly find enough energy to do so.

"Of course, Nami-san," he said, but the tone of his voice wasn't as light as he had tried to make it sound. "I just had to deal with something back there. As the owner of the restaurant, I have to take care of a lot of small problems like fights between the chefs and so on. There's nothing to worry about."

To Sanji's right, Ace leaned back in his chair.

"I hope that our presence isn't causing the problems," he said seriously, without a trace of the familiar grin on his face.

"Yeah, you can tell us if we should leave," Usopp said, his eyes still focused on the Tact in his hands. "We're not blind, we can see the way your waiters and guests are looking at us."

"No," Sanji sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. Why was he feeling so tired all of a sudden? "No, you don't have to leave. There'll be other guests coming later, so don't worry about it."

"Aw, that's the sweetest thing I've heard in years," Usopp chuckled lightly and put the Tact on the table next to the other two. "Nami, I think I can fix these, but I might need some material for the cores. I'll check my own storage later, but I can't promise anything."

"Really?" Nami's face brightened and she threw her arms around Usopp's neck, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Usopp, you're the best!"

Sanji leaned so far back in his chair that the front legs almost lost contact with the floor. He was glad to hear the familiar voices around him. It was soothing to hear Usopp trying to make Nami pay for the repair of her weapon while Chopper breathlessly told Robin and Ace about the many discoveries he had made during the year they had been separated. For a short moment, Sanji felt like he was back on the Going Merry, but then the argument with his chefs returned to his memory.

It was true that having five wanted pirates in the dining hall was going to affect the restaurant's reputation. But on the other hand, there was no way Sanji was going to refuse serving anyone without a good reason. And as far as he was concerned, that someone had a high bounty didn't automatically mean that the person was unacceptable as a customer.

Sanji leaned his head against the palm of his right hand, clasping the left hand around his right upper arm. His headache was returning, and it didn't feel like it was going to fade away any time soon.

A light touch of fingers brushing against his left shoulder made him look up, at first confused since everyone around the table seemed to be busy with their conversations. But as Sanji felt a pair of hands rubbing his tense shoulders, he smiled lightly and let his gaze wander towards the black-haired woman to his left. Robin returned the smile as she met the chef's eyes.

"Thank you, Robin-chan," Sanji said, feeling the tension in his shoulders slowly fade away.

"Doctor-san is right, you shouldn't get so stressed out," Robin said softly, her iceblue eyes wandering from Sanji to the little reindeer, who was babbling on about the improvements he had made on his Rumble Ball.

"For you, Robin-chan, I'll stop right away," Sanji said in an attempt to sound a bit less gloomy. He was met by a serene smile that made his heart flutter; a feeling he intended to enjoy for a moment.

"Damn it, Nami! I'm not going to repair it for free this time!" Usopp suddenly burst out, slamming his fist against the table.

Sanji frowned as he looked at the sniper across the table. The only thing that kept him from flipping the table over the long-nosed marksman was that Usopp was sitting between Nami and Robin. Even if he knew that both women could take care of themselves, Sanji wasn't going to risk hurting either one of them just because Usopp didn't know how to treat a lady.

Across the table, Nami shrugged in defeat, finally agreeing to pay for the repair. That made Usopp calm down again and peace once again fell over the small group. To Sanji's right, Ace and Chopper started laughing at the sight of Usopp's satisfied grin. Once they calmed down, Ace leaned back, one hand sweeping his black hair out of his eyes.

"What were you saying before about West Blue, Nami?" he asked, grinning lightly. "I guess I blacked out again…"

Nami scraped up the last piece of her pancake from her plate and put it in her mouth. She looked thoughtful for a moment, but then she nodded.

"Right. I was telling you about our trip to West Blue," Nami put down her fork nest to her plate and smiled towards Sanji. "Thank you so much for the food, Sanji-kun."

Sanji returned the smile with less difficulty than before, and he nodded gently towards Nami.

"It was my pleasure, Nami-san. So, you've been to West Blue?" he added in a curious tone.

"Yes, I went there with Robin. I tagged along with her in case I could help her find any trace of the last Poneglyphs she's looking for," Nami explained with a wide smile.

"Don't you mean that you went there with Robin just in case she would find any hidden treasures?" Usopp said teasingly, causing Ace, Chopper and even Robin to chuckle a little.

"Oh shut up, Usopp!" Nami snapped, aiming a punch at Usopp's face. The marksman easily evaded the punch, while he did his best not to explode from holding back the laughter he knew would only cause Nami to get angry with him again.

"Anyway," Nami continued, slightly less happily than before. "When we came to the first island after leaving the Grand Line, we found that the only town there had been almost completely destroyed. All the houses at the town square had been reduced to piles of concrete and planks, and all I could think of was how much it looked like the town Buggy the Clown controlled in East Blue years ago…"

"Buggy?" Sanji frowned. "Didn't Luffy kill him just before we reached Raftel?"

"Well, that's what we thought," Nami said, leaning forward with her elbows against the table. "But the villagers told us that a clan of circus-pirates had destroyed the whole village with only one large cannon, and they were led by a blue-haired man with a big red nose."

"I think I remember that clan," Ace said thoughtfully, tapping his index finger against his upper lip. "They had this huge lion that was green and purple…"

"The pirates had left the island two days before we arrived," Nami continued, not taking any notice of Ace's comment. "So there was really nothing we could do to help the villagers - except helping them create temporary shelters where they could live while they rebuilt their homes."

"However," Robin added, her monotone voice almost drowning in the murmur from the other guests in the room. "The village elder gave me a hint that an island in northern East Blue was said to have a large stonecube, which fits the description of the Poneglyphs."

"So after stocking up on food, water and of course some new clothes on the nearest island, we set out for East Blue, and that's how we ended up here" Nami finished, smiling brightly again. "And I'm so glad to see the four of you again."

"Same here," Chopper added shyly. "It feels like I'm home…"

As Nami continued to tell stories of her and Robin's adventures, Sanji allowed himself to relax. The hands which had sprouted from the back of his chair to rub his shoulders had disappeared when Robin joined in the storytelling, commenting or correcting the story where she felt it was needed. But his headache had already faded, and he was happy to notice that he wasn't feeling annoyed over his chefs anymore either. He trusted his nakama, and he'd show Pati, Carne and the others that they could trust in them as well.

* * *

_Blah, I don't like this chapter... I don't know why, but I just don't like it. Raarr, I don't like writing Nami and Robin, I can't bring out their personality...  
Anyway, I hope that the next chapter will be a little more eventful..._

_FieryKitsune - Actually, I've just started on the Skypiea Arc myself. Kyle, Manti, Kiera and Seraly are characters I made up myself for this story. I like the idea of having a musical duo. I think Luffy would love that, since he wants a musician so bad._

_Namibean - I know what you mean, I think the flashback was something the story needed. I needed it as well so that I could determine the whole reason to why they split up in the first place._

_Digitaldreamer - Well, I hope that I can bring Zoro and Luffy in soon... I just need to go through some more chapters and maybe even some other familiar characters... -stops before she says too much- I'll see so that I get the next chapter up soon. I promise._


	6. Familiar faces

The last chapter was boring, and I apologize that not much happened. This chapter is a bit longer than the ones I usually write. 15 pages at size 12, to be exact. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and if there's anything that seems odd, don't fear to tell me.

* * *

When lunchtime came, Sanji noticed with delight that the stream of arriving guests wasn't getting thinner even as the former Straw Hat pirates stayed at the restaurant. He was even more delighted to notice that in addition to the twenty parties who had made lunch reservations, another forty guests arrived and wanted to have their lunch at the Sagatie. This meant that the chefs themselves had to help carrying out the food to the waiting guests as the waiters couldn't possibly take care of it all. 

As Sanji carried four trays with food to a party of twelve, he saw many of the guests casting curious glances over at the pirates, who were making more and more noise as they finished their lunch. There were also some guests who dared to speak to the pirates, and they were soon pulled into the wild stories Usopp had in store for them while Ace and Robin amazed them by demonstrating their abilities. Sanji couldn't help but smiling at the whole thing. He had never seen his restaurant in such a lively state before, and would probably never see it like that ever again. Therefore, he decided to enjoy the moment for as long as it lasted.

"Sanji! Are you coming or what?"

Looking up, the head chef spotted Usopp, who had turned his chair away from the table to face a small group of children sitting on the floor in front of him. The pirate was leaning over the back of his chair, waving at Sanji to come to the table. Sighing, Sanji turned back to serving his guests, introducing himself and apologizing for the noisy pirates in the same breath.

"Oh, no," one of the guests, a large, balding man with a thick black beard assured Sanji while peering at him over the edge of the yellow sunglasses he was wearing. "Don't apologize. I've been to a lot of restaurants in my days, but the Sagatie has to be the only one where pirates are entertaining the guests like this. I tell you, young man, if your food is as good as the rumors say, you're sure to receive your five stars."

Sanji blinked, momentarily stunned. Five stars? The words echoed in his mind for a short moment, allowing his brain to fully take in their meaning.

"I'm sorry…" he managed to say once he regained the ability to speak. "I don't think I understand…"

"Mister Mange-Tout is a restaurant critic," a thin, black-haired woman sitting to the left of the large bearded man said with a slow voice. There was a distant look in her large brown eyes that made her seem very mysterious. Sanji felt how his gaze was drawn to those eyes like iron to a magnet.

"He's very famous." Sanji turned his eyes towards the girl to the right of Mister Mange-Tout. The girl's emeraldgreen eyes sparkled vividly under the wild locks of red hair that framed her face. This time, Sanji caught himself thinking that even if the girl was very beautiful, her beauty was pale compared to Nami or Robin's looks.

The bearded man laughed, affectionately putting an arm around the both girls and caused them both to giggle lightly.

"Well, I wouldn't say famous," he said, once again peering at Sanji over his glasses with slightly mischievous grin on his face. "'Infamous' is a better word. Now, son, if you would serve me my lunch, I'd be very happy."

"Oh."

Sanji suddenly realized that he was still carrying the last tray - which was loaded with three plates of food - on his head. If he had been the kind of person who was easily embarrassed, he would have blushed heavily and hid somewhere never to emerge again. However, Sanji wasn't that kind of person. Instead, he calmly apologized and placed out the plates in front of Mister Mange-Tout and the two ladies at his sides.

"Enjoy your meal," he said, winking at the women around the table. "Ladies, if you need anything, don't be afraid to call for me."

As Sanji walked away, Mister Mange-Tout's bellowing laughter echoed from behind him, and he could hear the large man's voice:

"A ha ha haaa, what a ladies' man, eh fellows? We better make sure that the girls get to order him around, don't you think? How's the food, Charlie?"

More laughter followed, and Sanji moved his focus from the restaurant critic to the pirates by the table next to the entrance. The noise in that area had faded a little bit since Ace and Robin had stopped displaying their abilities, but Usopp and Chopper were still being quite loud as they were entertaining a group of six children with some of the marksman's oldest stories. As Usopp told the story about the giant goldfish in South Blue and about the mighty giants from the land of Elbaf, the children's chiming laughter slowly made the other guests less intimidated by the well-known pirates. Sanji was feeling less bothered by letting his nakama eat all that food for free, since they were already repaying that by entertaining all the guests.

Coming up to the table, Sanji was once again reminded of the copious amounts of food Ace could devour. The stacks of empty plates that rose from the far side of the table were surprisingly tall considering that Ace already had eaten just about the same amount of food a few hours earlier at breakfast. However, Sanji told himself, he shouldn't be so surprised. After all, he had been aboard the Going Merry for ten years, cooking for a man whose appetite was even more amazing than Ace's. It was strange how fast he had forgotten about that. Thinking back to the days aboard the Going Merry, Sanji started picking up the numerous plates from the table and turned to Nami and Robin, who were discussing the route they should plan out for their continued trip to the island where the Poneglyph was said to be hidden.

"Did you enjoy your meal, Nami-san, Robin-chan?" he asked with a smile, reaching across the table for another ten plates and stacked them on top of the ones he was already balancing in one hand. "I can make you some dessert if you want."

"No, thank you, Sanji-kun," Nami smiled warmly. "The food was delicious, but I don't think I can eat any more right now."

"I'll pass as well," Robin added, also smiling towards Sanji, who slowly started to melt from the inside. "But thank you for asking, Chef-san."

"I'll make you a special dessert after dinner, then," Sanji promised, smiling so wide that his cheeks almost started to hurt. Making desserts for Nami and Robin was one of the things he had missed the most over the past year.

"For us as well?" Usopp chipped in with a hopeful look on his face. Sanji sighed, turning away from the table with two tall stacks of plates in his hands.

"Alright, keep entertaining my guests and we'll see about that."

Smiling at the cheerful cries of "Yay, desserts!" that came from the group of children behind him – which included Usopp and Chopper's voices as well as all six of the kids - Sanji walked away, leaving the pirates to entertain themselves and the guests. He would make sure that the children got desserts as well. After all, he had never forgotten to make snacks for everyone, even if the ones he enjoyed making the most were Nami's and Robin's.

As he looked over at the table where Mister Mange-Tout was sitting, he smiled wider as the bearded man turned around in his chair, made a thumb's-up and laughed. _I thought a restaurant critic was supposed to keep as straight face…_ Sanji thought to himself. _But this might be really good for the restaurant._

He carried the plates to the kitchen, where he made two of the apprentices – one of the cyan-haired twins and the bright green-haired boy – start doing the dishes. After putting the third boy to work with peeling more vegetables, Sanji walked around in the kitchen and up to the freezers and the pantry to calculate how much food was left in there. It seemed like the supplies were going to last only two or maybe three more days if the number of customers stayed the same or increased.

"Great…" Sanji shut the door to the pantry with a sharp snap, leaning his forehead against the door as he muttered: "Just what I need, another trip through the Grand Line…"

"When are we leaving?"

The head chef turned around, catching Carne glancing over at him from his counter. The longhaired man seemed to be busy preparing the Elephant Tuna-filet he had in front of him, but Sanji knew better. With over twenty years of experience, he could easily detect if someone was pretending to work or not. However, he also knew better than to start an argument in the kitchen. The chefs were fully capable of doing that themselves.

"We're leaving at the break of dawn in two days, Carne, as soon as Tajiyo returns with the supplies," he replied calmly as he lifted the lid to one of the large pans and inspected the contents with mild interest. The soup inside was thick and had a rich, delicious smell. Sanji looked up and glanced around in the kitchen, where the chefs seemed a bit stressed out over something.

"Calm down," he said, emphasizing the words carefully. "Which would you prefer? To be the best chef in the world or the fastest? There's no need to hurry, the food won't get done faster because you run around like that."

"But, Owner…" one of the younger chefs stammered weakly, pouring liquor over a dish to make it ready to be flambéed. "The man out there… the restaurant critic, he…"

"…Is just a customer, just like everyone else out there," Sanji finished in the same careful tone as before. "I don't want to see any of you putting extra care in his food or the service you offer him and his party, is that clear? And Pati…" he turned to the mintgreen-haired chef, who gruffly looked back at him. "Make sure that Mister Mange-Tout pays for his food. No one eats for free unless I say so."

"Alright," Pati growled, looking a bit less gruff than before as he passed by Sanji with a large bowl of soup in his hands. He stopped just in front of the silverdoors and turned around. "Sanji, about those guests of yours…"

"They're staying and they're not paying," Sanji said teasingly. Pati had been wrong about his nakama, but the head chef wasn't going to let the old man apologize that easily. An apology from Pati would be like putting an end to all the arguments they had ever had over the years, and where was the fun in doing that?

"If you say so, _Owner_," Pati muttered loudly before he vanished out through the doors into the dining hall. Sanji chuckled lightly, shook his head and turned to the soup on the stove in front of him.

"Make sure that you serve the dishes in the order they get done," he reminded his chefs as he put the lid back over the soup. "Don't risk spoiling one dish just because you wait for another to cook."

"Aye," the chefs in the kitchen replied without turning away from their counters and stoves. "Understood, Owner."

As he finished his round in the kitchen and some kind of calm settled in the room again, Sanji found that everything was in order and left the kitchen after checking up on his apprentices, who were still working with their vegetables and the huge mountains of dirty plates which only seemed to get higher and higher.

Entering the dining hall, he was immediately struck by the lack of noise in the room. There was no loud, nasal voice telling stories and no children laughing or applauding, just the mellow murmur of the guests talking to each other. As a matter of fact, when Sanji looked towards the table where his nakama were sitting, he noticed that both Usopp and Chopper were gone, along with the six children who had been listening to the marksman's stories earlier.

Sanji walked through the room, nodding to a party of regular guests as they entered the restaurant, and sank down on the empty chair between Nami and Robin. To his left, Nami was talking to Ace about a weather anomaly she had discovered in South Blue, and to his right, Robin was reading a book written in a language which Sanji assumed no one had spoken in hundreds of years. No one, except for his wonderful Robin-chan, of course, he thought to himself as his eyes gave shape to the joy and love he was feeling just by sitting between the two women.

"I hope that you're enjoying yourself," he said, smiling widely. He was very grateful that his voice wasn't sounding as strained as before.

"Of course," Nami replied, turning from Ace to Sanji. "It's always fun to see old friends. By the way, Usopp and Chopper went back to Meri Go and took the kids with them."

"I was wondering why the noise disappeared," Sanji said with a smile, leaning back with his hands behind his neck. After a second or two, his tired mind had processed the full meaning of Nami's words. Then the chef blinked and looked at Nami again. "Wait. Nami-san, did you just say that they took the kids to the ship?"

As Nami nodded, Sanji felt a faint throbbing make its way through his head again and moved one hand to his forehead. He wondered what that marksman could be thinking, bringing a group of kids aboard a pirate ship like that.

"Don't worry, Chef-san," Robin said without looking up from the pages of her book. "The parents agreed to let the children go along with them."

Robin's attention was suddenly pulled away from the book as an elderly man came up next to her and silently asked her if she knew about some archaeological findings in North Blue. Sanji silently wondered if her words were supposed to calm him down. As long as the kids and their parents were aboard his ship, their safety was ultimately his responsibility, and Sanji could still remember the daily explosions aboard the Going Merry. Who knew what kind of floating powder keg the Meri Go could be?

Shaking his head, Sanji sighed deeply and rubbed a throbbing point between his eyebrows. Around him, Ace and Nami were back to discussing weather and the navigation techniques required to sail in the Grand Line while Robin was deep in a conversation with the old man about the archaeological findings and what the discovery could mean to the rest of the world.

Feeling perfectly happy with just sitting there and listen to his nakama's voices, Sanji still couldn't help but feeling a bit stressed by the seemingly endless stream of guests that flowed in through the double doors. Soon, he'd have to leave East Blue and go back to All Blue. There was no way to run a restaurant without any food to cook, now was it? But the journey was long, and Sanji knew from experience that his chefs weren't the most fun crew to travel with. If only there was some way to convince Nami and Robin to go with them… At least for a while, so that he could show off his improved cooking abilities just like in the old days.

Sanji leaned further back in his chair, wondering where he would have been if he never had found All Blue. He felt his body already craving a cigarette, but chose to ignore the uncomfortable feeling. Nami had always asked him not to smoke next to her, and he wasn't going to let her think that he had forgotten about that. Instead, he tried to relax and to enjoy the moment of peace where his chefs and waiters took care of the guests on their own. He hardly noticed that he slowly drifted off to sleep.

– e – e –

It just wasn't fair.

Sanji leaned his forehead against the cold surface of the door to the small freezer on top of the refrigerator, barely keeping himself from slamming his head against it repeatedly. Behind him, Usopp was once again telling Kiera and Seraly about Zoro's final battle against Hawk-Eyes Mihawk. This time, the marksman did not only make almost perfect imitations of Zoro's and Mihawk's voices as he told the story, but he somehow managed to perform a very vivid rendering of the battle itself, in which he played both Zoro and Mihawk and made it appear as if he was fighting a battle to the death with himself there by the table in the galley. Without anything better to do at the moment, Sanji turned to see just what the hell was going on, the side of his head still pressed against the freezer.

"'You have fought well so far, young weakling,'" Usopp said with his Mihawk-voice, leaning a bit backwards as if he was carrying a large sword in his hands. "'But can you finish what you have started?'"

The marksman quickly made a leap to the side, turned around and took another stance, almost as if he was staring up at an invisible enemy. Leaning forward with his hands gripping the hilts of two invisible swords and his jaw tightly clenched, he appeared to be enduring a lot of injuries and pain. Narrowing his eyes, Usopp took a few deep breaths, making an even greater impression of being seriously wounded in the middle of a fight. Even Sanji had to admit – but not out loud, of course – that the marksman was making quite a good impression of the shitty swordsman's battle.

"'That's why I challenged you,'" Usopp said, his voice now deep and rough as he raised the imaginary swords in front of him. "'I will not lose to you again!'"

A series of wild flailing gestures followed, in which Sanji almost could make out the two characters fighting to the death. By the table, Kiera and Seraly were applauding the show and laughed happily at Usopp's final re-enactment of the attack that had felled the previously undefeated swordsmaster. As the marksman bowed and assured his audience that he wasn't worthy of all the praise, Sanji turned away and continued to prepare the late dinner.

The chef could hear the two girls leaving the galley as he tasted the soup he had been cooking since the break of dawn. However, the warm, salty taste of the soup didn't keep him from cringing as two other voices were heard. There they were, the only two idiots he despised more than Zoro, invading his space with all the stupidity that could possibly fit inside two human bodies.

"Yo, 'Sop, we've been lookin' all over for ya, man."

Glancing over his shoulder where he stood, still leaning over his soup, Sanji caught a glimpse of the two musicians entering the galley. He also caught the overjoyed look on Usopp's face as the marksman realized that he had got another chance to perform his version of the legendary battle.

"We need your expertise in a very important matter…" Manti said, folding his arms across his chest. From his place in the kitchen area, Sanji could see the strained look on the red-haired musician's face and he caught himself wondering what could be so damn important. Not that he cared, but if they needed Usopp's 'expertise', the chance of all three of them leaving the galley was pretty big.

"Ah, of course!" Usopp said happily, puffing out his chest while he folded his arms. "I, the great Captain Usopp can do anything. What can I do for you today?"

"Well, all the strings on Manti's guitar just snapped this mornin'," Kyle explained, almost causing Sanji to drop the soup ladle on the floor. The chef let out a light sigh, wondering to himself what he had expected from the musicians in the first place. But still… _That _was their 'important matter'? The urge to kick the blue-haired man into a wall grew stronger, but Sanji still held on to the hope that Usopp would take the two musicians out of the lounge.

"And we thought to ask you to fix it." Manti finished, spreading out his hands in a pleading gesture.

Usopp started laughing, still keeping his 'Great Captain Usopp'-stance.

"Ha haa, nothing else?" he cackled. "Of course I'll help you, boys. But first, did you hear about the battle this morning? I was there and saw the whole thing…"

That was it. Sanji couldn't take anymore. Slowly turning around towards the three numbskulls, he put on the most threatening expression he could muster.

"If you're going to perform that stupid play again, Usopp…" he growled, already aiming a kick that would send the three men flying out of the Grand Line if he put enough force behind it. However, he decided to give the idiots a chance to escape unharmed. "Then do so somewhere else! Get. Out. Of. My. Kitchen!"

"Aww…." Usopp turned around with a mischievous look on his face, apparently not affected by Sanji's raised voice. "Is Sanji-kun feeling a bit grumpy today? But why is that? Is it because Zoro beat you again by reaching his goal before you've reached yours? Could it be something as simple as that?"

Sanji's eyes darkened, and now he didn't bother to give the three idiots a head-start.

"I told you to GET OUT!" he yelled, turning to the left as he let his right leg fly in a wide circle towards Usopp and the two musicians. The three noisemakers quickly dodged the kick, but as Sanji glared at them over his outstretched leg, they fled out through the open door. Their cackling laughter could be heard long after Sanji slammed the door to the galley shut.

Muttering curses over the noisy marksman and musicians, Sanji returned to the stove, eyes widening as he saw the black smoke rising from the kettle.

"Oh shit…"

Darting forward, the chef grabbed the metal handles on both sides of the kettle and pulled it away from the stove. He grit his teeth as he felt the warm metal against the bare skin of his palms. What was he thinking, grabbing the kettle just like that without even remembering to protect his hands? Putting the kettle on the counter next to the stove, he coughed and waved one hand through the thick black smoke which was swirling around below the ceiling.

Reaching out to turn off the heater, he wondered when he had managed to turn it up so far that the soup was ruined. The palms of his burned hands stung as he touched the plastic handles, causing him to hiss between clenched teeth. It seemed like the kettle's handles had been hot enough to actually make light red lines appear across his palms.

"Just perfect…" Sanji muttered, feeling his day just getting worse and worse. "Better take care of that, then…"

Walking over to open the freezer, Sanji filled a small kitchen towel with ice cubes. He folded the towel around the ice and held it tightly between his burned hands while he moved to sit down by the table. In a matter of minutes, the makeshift ice pack caused his hands to go almost completely numb. The stinging feeling in his palms faded at the same pace as his skin reddened, but he was still just as annoyed as before.

Why he was so annoyed? Because it just wasn't fair. Around him, his nakama had either reached their goals or were getting really close to them. Even the shitty swordsman had reached the end of his long journey. But Sanji hadn't seen or heard anything that would show him if he was getting closer to All Blue or not. Maybe it had all been a stupid dream from the beginning. After all, there was no room for a fifth ocean, not even on the maps.

_No!_ It wasn't a stupid dream. All Blue was real. It had to be real, and he was going to be the one who found it!

Sanji growled and got up from the bench he was sitting on. He threw the soaking wet towel with what was left of the ice in the sink and cast a glance towards the kettle on the counter. Luckily, there was no more smoke coming out of it, but Sanji knew that it would be a hell to get it clean later. Still, he realized that he would have to come up with something else to cook for dinner, and he had to do it fast. Luffy would start whining about how hungry he was in exactly twenty-seven minutes, and then it would be impossible to keep the captain out of the kitchen.

Sighing, Sanji went to the storage to seek inspiration.Twenty-six minutes laterdown in the men's quarters, Luffy was sitting on a barrel next to couch and the sleeping Zoro, waiting for the swordsman to wake up. As he yawned and stretched lightly, he felt the little rumble in his stomach that meant that he was getting hungry. For a shortmoment, he fought an inner struggle where one part of him wanted to go and tell Sanji to make dinner, while another told him to stay with Zoro in case the swordsman woke up. In the end, he compromised by wrapping his legs around the old couch on which Zoro was sleeping and stretched out his upper body so that he could stick up his head through the hatch in the main deck and tell Sanji to hurry up with the meat.

Later that evening, after putting Kyle and Manti to do the dishes and bringing the girls their after-dinner tea and coffee, Sanji wandered up to the prow, where he leaned against the railing and silently smoked his last cigarette for the day.

The sky was clear, slowly shifting from clear blue to orange and red as the sun slowly set over the anchored ship. And it was quiet, however strange that would appear. There were no other sounds than the splash of waves slapping against the creaking hull and the faint sound of voices coming from the galley, where the crew were still talking about Zoro's 'amazing battle'. The swordsman himself was still sleeping below deck, like he had done ever since he returned from the deserted island where he had faced Hawk-Eyes Mihawk before dawn - almost fourteen hours earlier.

Now, the island was hardly visible above the horizon along with all the negative thoughts the crew had had about the battle. The only memory of the island the crew still held on to was the image of Zoro standing over the fallen Mihawk with his eyes closed, his white katana held high in the air. Sanji didn't know if the rest of the crew had heard the words Zoro had said at the moment before the last of his strength had been drained, and the chef didn't really care. But for some reason, the words were stuck in his mind, playing over and over again.

"_For the both of us… Quena…"_

Not that it mattered, though. When it all came down to it, it was just Zoro…

Sanji puffed out rings of smoke as he once again fought a mental battle against the little annoying voice in his headwhich insisted on telling him that All Blue wasn't real, and that he was a fool who searched for something that wasn't there. He was just about to flick what was left of his cigarette into the ocean and go down into the men's quarters to get some sleep when a voice reached his ears.

"Whooa! Look at that fish! Omoshire!"

The loud voice made Sanji flinch involuntarily. He looked up at the figurehead, not until now taking notice of the figure perched on top of the wooden lamb's head. The chef let out a light sigh, thinking that he should have known that a quiet evening aboard the Going Merry was too good to be true. He just had to be grateful that he at least had got a few minutes of peace.

Luffy was sitting on top of Merry's figurehead, pointing down at something in the water below with one hand while he held on to his precious hat with the other.

"Sanji!" he said, turning his head almost 180 degrees to look at the chef with excitement. "Look at that fish, isn't it awesome? I bet it's tasty, do you think it's tasty? I'll catch it and you can cook it for me, what do you say?"

Knowing his captain, Sanji wasn't too keen on looking at whatever it was Luffy thought was awesome. After all, the captain was known to find awesomeness in the most uninteresting things, like frogs, an enemy's weapons, dust bunnies or strangely shaped rocks. But after Luffy once again urged him to look at the awesome fish –this time in a little more demanding tone – Sanji reluctantly leaned over the railing and looked down towards the water; not expecting to see anything of interest.

What he saw almost made him plunge head-first into the ocean out of surprise. Down by the prow of the anchored ship, glistening in the last rays of sunlight, a large white and green-speckled fish was jumping and swimming around, apparently trying to get the two humans to play with it. The fish had two large gold-colored eyes on each side of its head and a large, transparent fin running over its back from its nose to the tailfin. Sanji had only seen a fish like that on a photograph in one of the old ingredient-books he had been studying as a kid. He couldn't remember its name, but he was pretty sure that it was only supposed to exist in northern North Blue, not that far into the Grand Line.

"Whooooooa!" Luffy exclaimed, pulling Sanji's attention away from the fish. The captain was now pointing towards the horizon on the starboard side, laughing loudly. "Over there! Over there! Look, Sanji! Look, look, look, look! It's huuuge! Just like Labun! Look!"

Sanji was looking, alright. But the problem was that he couldn't bring himself to believe what he was seeing. In the direction Luffy was pointing, a huge shadow had risen from the depths, creating large waves that would rock the caravel only moments later. Sanji stared at the Island Whale, feeling his jaw dropping to the extent where his cigarette dropped to the deck and rolled away.

"Un- unbelievable…" he managed to force himself to say, mostly to assure himself that he wasn't imagining the whole scene which was displayed in front of him.

Taking his eyes from the whale, which was blowing out an enormous cascade of water before it dove back into the ocean again, Sanji smiled widely and leaned lightly against the railing to support himself as the waves created by the large animal finally reached the Going Merry. On top of the figurehead, Luffy was holding on to the wooden lamb's horn with one hand while the other was keeping his treasure securely pressed over his head. The captain was still laughing as he tried to spot more strange fish in the water. Once he spotted other fishes – among others a blue-finned Elephant Tuna which jumped out of the water and nearly swept the straw hat off Luffy's head as it passed over the captain's head – he called out to Sanji and pointed them out for him. Sanji, on the other hand, stood still by the railing and let his captain point out the different fishes. He felt a burning sensation in the corners of his eyes and closed them.

_In the world, the ocean is divided into four oceans, _he thought._ East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue… But there's an ocean where all the fish from all four oceans lives. The legendary ocean, All Blue. I know it's real, and I will find it. No, I **have** found it! It's really here… That white fish from North Blue, blue-finned Elephant Tuna from South Blue… And Island Whales from West Blue… Okay, so whales aren't fish, but still…_

As the sun slowly sank down below the horizon, Sanji looked at his captain and smiled at the younger man's newly invented song about the awesome fish he had seen and which Sanji was going to cook for him one day.

"Luffy," Sanji said before he turned to walk off towards the men's quarters, causing Luffy to fall silent in the sixth verse about the white and green fish with the cool fin.

"Huh?" Luffy said, turning his head to look at Sanji. "What is it?"

Sanji smiled lightly and glanced at the captain over his shoulder as he walked towards the stairs down to the main deck. There were no words that could express the gratitude he was feeling towards the man who had brought him all the way to the place he had been searching for. Therefore, he decided not to complicate the matter. After all, he was talking to Luffy, and he didn't want to destroy one of the happiest moments in his life by trying to explain something as trivial to his captain.

"Thank you, Pirate King."

– e – e –

A loud crash jerked Sanji out of his dreams, at first leaving him a bit disoriented as the surroundings were nothing like the prow deck of the Going Merry. When he finally recalled where he was, he noticed that all the conversations in the room had stopped and that everyone in the room was staring towards the entrance. Sanji turned around in his chair, wondering just what the hell was going on this time. Usopp had better not been showing the kids his Gunpowder Stars…

While Sanji turned his eyes towards the open doors, a few newly arrived guests were moving away from the entrance, all of them seemingly shocked by the sudden noise outside the restaurant.

The sound of footsteps coming from the outer terrace was heard. At the same time, the silence in the dining hall was broken by a scraping noise of chairs moving over the wooden floor as some of the guests tried to get a better view over what was happening. An annoyed and at the same time terrified voice drifted in through the open doors.

"Argh, let me go! Damn it, why did I have to come with you back here? I showed you the way so let me go!"

The person who was talking suddenly cried out in pain as he was flung forward through the open doors onto the floor. Sanji blinked once, still feeling a bit dazed after the short time he had been sleeping. He wasn't sure what was going on, but one thing was certain: the man lying sprawled in the middle of the dining hall floor was none other than Akatani Kaji. He was lying on the floor with his face down against the wooden planks, his red hair stained with blood.

In the corner of his eye, Sanji could see Ace getting up from his chair, donning his hat while he cast a cold glare towards the man in the floor. Then another voice was heard, apparently belonging to the person Kaji had been talking to. The voice caused Sanji to cringe involuntarily.

"Will you just shut up? You tried to steal my boat and now you're complaining even though I let you live? You ungrateful bastard."

Sanji covered his eyes with one hand. _No, no, no,_ he thought. _Of all the people in the world, why does **he** have to come here?_

"Kaji!"

The strained voice made Sanji look up. Ace was standing in front of the table, staring down at the red-haired man on the floor. Curling his hands into fists, the Pirate King's older brother clenched his jaw as he tried to control his anger towards the nakama-murderer. The red-head looked up, his slanted eyes wide with fear. Sanji noticed that he had a hard time feeling sorry for the young pirate, and as he looked around at Nami and Robin, he thought he could see the same feeling in the women's eyes as well.

"I've been looking for you," Ace snarled as he walked up to Kaji, flames literally surrounding him. "You treacherous little…"

"Ah… Ace?"

Everyone's eyes were turned towards the green-haired man who had just entered the restaurant, dressed in black and dark green with a black bandana tied around his head. Three swords hanged by his side and clattered faintly when the swordsman moved.

"Ace, do you know this bastard?" Lolonoa Zoro asked, nodding towards the man on the floor.

"You could say that," Ace replied, glancing at Zoro before he turned back towards Kaji. "I'll tell you all about it, but I have to deal with this first… If I'm stealing the bounty from under your nose, I apologize, but I have a personal issue with this little rat."

Reaching out his hand, Ace grabbed the collar of Kaji's black jacket, easily lifting him from the floor. The captain of the Fire Clan turned his gaze away from the traitor in his grip, and looked towards Sanji and the other pirates around the table.

"I need to take care of this, but I'll try to get back here before you leave for your next destination, Sanji."

As Ace turned to walk out from the restaurant while pushing Kaji in front of him, Sanji caught a glimpse of Zoro over the black-haired man's shoulder. By the mentioning of Sanji's name, the swordsman's head jerked up in a strange way, as if someone had dumped a bucket boiling hot water over his green hair. The head chef managed to ignore the green-head and nodded towards Ace, who just passed by Zoro on his way out.

"Aa…" He got up from his chair, but avoided to move towards Ace. "We'll depart at dawn in two days. Give him what he deserves."

Sanji said the last part with a low, threatening voice and glared at the red-haired pirate, who stumbled out through the open double doors. Kaji seemed to have lost all his courage and cockiness by the sight of his former captain. As far as Sanji was concerned, Ace could let the kid roast over an open flame for the rest of eternity. A man who led his nakama to their death wasn't worth living among humans.

"Oi, what the hell are you three doing here?" The sound of the deep, rough voice made Sanji groan silently. Wasn't there some kind of law that decided how slow a person could be?

"It's my restaurant, Marimo, so go figure why I'm here," he snapped, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Nami-san and Robin-chan are here as my guests."

No matter how much he tried to deny it, Sanji had been itching for a good argument with Zoro for a long time. No one on his ship knew how to return an insult properly, and most of the chefs let him win the arguments because he was the head chef. Where was the fun in that?

"Hi, Zoro!" Nami said, interrupting Zoro, who was about to say something acid to Sanji. "This is starting to turn out to be quite the reunion. What are you doing in East Blue?"

"Yo, Nami." The swordsman turned his eyes from Sanji towards the table. "Robin. How's the treasure hunting?"

Robin smiled serenely, ignoring the treasure hunting- comment. The old man she had been discussing archaeology with was sitting on a chair to her right, looking a bit nervous as he seemed to realize that he was surrounded by four well-known former pirates.

"My search is going quite well, Swordsman-san," Robin's eyes dropped to the pages of her book as she continued: "What have you been doing all this time?"

Zoro glanced out through the open doors over his shoulder. Sanji followed his gaze towards Ace, who had already set out to sea with Kaji aboard his fire-powered boat.

"Well, I've been sailing around all over the place…" Zoro broke off and glared at Sanji, who hadn't been able to hold back a snort of laughter. "Do you want to say something, Curly-brow?"

Sanji had to force himself not to laugh any further. He knew perfectly well that Zoro hadn't been 'sailing around' just for the hell of it, but because the green-head simply couldn't find his way to any location he headed for. It took a whole lot of willpower, but the chef managed to send a cold glare towards the swordsman, who retuned it with badly hidden enthusiasm. That was the signal Sanji had been waiting for. Apparently, he wasn't the only on who had been dying for a good fight.

When Zoro walked over to the table where Nami and Robin were sitting, Sanji slowly followed. He didn't want anyone to think that he _wanted_ to sit around the same table as the seaweed-head. The swordsman slid down on the empty chair Ace had left behind at the head of the table and leaned back with a deep sigh, rubbing his right temple lightly.

"What a week," he muttered, apparently mostly to himself. "First those bounty-hunters who decided to target me and chased me all over the Grand Line. Then I found myself in the Calm Belt where I ran into Luffy who was playing with the Sea Kings…"

"You've met Luffy? Nami asked excitedly just as Sanji walked around the table. Unfortunately, since the old man Robin once again was discussing old ruins and dead languages with had moved from his chair and was sitting between the two women, Sanji had to sit next to Zoro.

"Yeah," The swordsman clasped his hands behind his neck. "He joined me for a while as we went back towards the Grand Line. But a storm swept us into East Blue and we were separated."

Sanji snorted as he sat down, leaning his elbows against the table with his chin against the palm of his hand.

"There are no storms in the Calm Belt, moron. You probably got lost and ended up in East Blue long before the storm hit you."

Zoro growled and glared at Sanji.

"Shut up, Love Cook. At least I'm not stuck on some damn fish-shaped boat all day long."

"No," Sanji returned acidly, barley keeping his amusement hidden. It was fun to finally argue with someone who wouldn't back away to save his life. He also chose to let the insult aimed at his restaurant slide. "No, you're just stuck in whatever little boat you found, sailing aimlessly around the oceans because you can't find your way out of an open shoebox."

The moment Zoro's hand moved towards the katana by his side, Sanji leaned back in his chair. He lifted his right leg from the floor just in time for the hard sole of his shoe to meet the sharp edge of a white-hilted katana. Smirking, the head chef reached down into his pockets to retrieve a cigarette and matches without taking his eyes from Zoro. The swordsman, on the other hand, didn't move a muscle except when he put more pressure behind his sword.

As Sanji lit his cigarette, after glancing towards Nami and Robin to see if they would object, the sound of whispering voices reached his ears.

"The demon… the Pirate Hunter Zoro…"  
"I thought he was dead…"  
"Is it really him?"  
"Look. Three swords, green hair - of course it's him."

Shaking the match to put out the fire, Sanji pushed himself forward with his right foot still pressed against the sword's edge. He had no intention to alarm his guests, no matter how much he wanted to start a fight with Zoro. After all, this was a restaurant, not a pirate ship.

"Put away the sword, shithead," he hissed, locking eyes with Zoro to point out how serious he was. "You're scaring my guests. Don't make me kick your ass instead of bringing you food."

"You – Kick my ass?" Zoro snorted, but removed the katana as he was asked and slid it back into its white sheathe. "I'd love to see you try, Stretch."

Sanji smirked and put his foot back on the floor. He was enjoying the situation far too much for his own good.

"I bet you would." he said calmly. "Ne, I guess I should be polite and offer you some lunch, even if I'd rather-"

He never got to finish his insult as a loud crash which sounded like porcelain breaking against the floor echoed through the dining hall, coming in the direction of the kitchen. The guests, who had just got back to their conversations after Zoro's arrival and Ace's departure, fell silent and turned towards the source of the noise.

Looking up, Sanji raised an eyebrow as the silverdoors to the kitchen were pushed wide open by Pati and Carne, who seemed to be both terrified and filled with fighting spirit at the same time.

"SANJI!" they cried in unison, not moving away from the door to the kitchen. "Owner Sanji!"

Sanji stretched his neck and looked at his chefs across the room, wondering what was going on this time. It sure was turning out to be a very eventful day. However, Pati and Carne were definitely not known to show any fear, no matter what dangers they faced. Therefore, the older men's terrified expressions were making Sanji's skin crawl uncomfortably.

"Oi, oi, what's with all the noise?" he said loudly.

"Sanji!" Pati cried out again, this time taking one step out into the dining hall. His eyes were wide open and his face was at least two shades paler than normal. "Pirates! Pirates are coming!"

Sanji frowned. It wasn't like his best chefs to get so worked up about pirates. He was just about to ask what the two men were talking about when Carne also took a step forward, pointing towards the entrance to the restaurant.

"Krieg! Don Krieg's pirate fleet is headed this way! The king of East Blue has returned from the Grand Line!"


	7. Rising to battle

It took a while for me to write this chapter, mostly because of the action scenes. This chapter is 16 pages, and could probably have been divided in two, but then I don't think it would have been good... Well, enjoy.

* * *

At first, Sanji didn't know what to think. He had almost completely forgotten about Krieg's existence, and hadn't even thought about the pirate in years. The last thing he had heard about the so-called 'King of East Blue' was when the news of a large fleet of pirate ships entering the Grand Line (and almost clogging up the entrance to Reverse Mountain while they were at it) had been all over the front page of Nami's newspaper. Now it seemed like Krieg was back. 

There was a loud, nervous murmur rising in the restaurant, and Sanji realized that he would have to do something to prevent panic from breaking out among the guests. He got up from his chair and cast a glance at his nakama. Nami and Robin were both looking towards the two noisy chefs by the kitchen-doors, but Zoro held his gaze locked on Sanji with a challenge written all over his face. Any other day, Sanji would have accepted the challenge without hesitation, but not this time.

"I'll handle this," he muttered, tapping the ash off his cigarette and sticking it in the corner of his mouth. "The Sagatie is my treasure and my responsibility. I'll protect her if I so have to do it alone."

"Sanji-kun…" Nami started, but Sanji was already walking away from the table and out into the middle of the dining hall. As he looked out through the open doors, he could see a large battleship headed directly towards the restaurant and sighed. Sanji suddenly felt certain that there was no way the day could get any worse.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said seriously, raising his hands to get the guests' attention. "I want to ask all of you to please calm down. There are pirates headed this way, and I don't think that they're here for our homemade eggrolls. Therefore, I would suggest that you leave the restaurant immediately. You can return once the restaurant is out of harm's way."

The guests started moving from their tables, grabbing their coats and purses. Suddenly, a shriek was heard from one of the tables as a woman stood up, her face almost the same white color as the tablecloth. Several guests jumped and turned around to see what was going on.

"My children!" the woman cried out. "My children aren't back yet!"

Three other women also started to scream about their children not being back yet. Sanji barely kept himself from flipping one of the tables upside-down just to make everyone shut up. There was no time for anyone to panic. The chef growled and took one step forward, happy to find his guests calming down a little as he did so.

"The kids are _fine_!" he said in a loud, calm voice. "They are with two of my friends, who will protect them with their lives. Now, I urge you to return to your ships and leave the restaurant before the pirates comes to close."

"My ladies," he added in a softer tone and turned to the women who looked back at him with tear-filled eyes, seemingly on the verge of hysteria. He was actually feeling a bit sorry for them, considering that Usopp and Chopper were the only people standing between the children and a clan of bloodthirsty pirates. "If you wish to stay and wait for your children to be returned to you, my staff and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure that nothing happens to you."

The women, who had gathered with their husbands in a small group around a table nodded with appreciation. Sanji turned away, glancing at Pati and Carne, who were still standing in the open doors to the kitchen and waiting for orders.

"Boys, are you ready to protect the ship?" Sanji asked with a smirk, knowing that both Pati and Carne had been longing for a good brawl. "Go get all the chefs who are willing to fight. The waiters too, if they have the guts."

"AYE!"

The two older chefs turned around and disappeared into the kitchen, while Sanji tried to think of some way of keeping the pirates from entering the restaurant. The Fins were already out, but until the guests had moved their ships, there was no chance of using the terrace as a battleground. They would all be easy targets.

When Sanji followed the last guests out through the entrance, he glanced quickly at his nakama, who were sitting by themselves at their table, apparently deep in conversation. The head chef sighed, pulled his attention away from the pirates and aimed it at the battleship, which was slowly approaching the restaurant. To his great relief, the guests' ships were swiftly setting their sails and one by one, they left the restaurant.

For one moment, Sanji almost expected the large pirate ship to change its course and turn after the escaping guests, but it didn't. The battleship kept a steady course, headed directly towards the Sagatie. Then he knew that his restaurant was the main dish on the Pirate Clan's dinner table.

He could hear his chefs getting ready to fight inside the restaurant, and sighed. Luffy wasn't there to kick Krieg's sorry ass into another ocean this time. It was up to Sanji to make sure his treasure was safe. He couldn't help but feel his stomach twist uncomfortably as he walked out onto the outer Fin, watching the last guests quickly leave the restaurant.

There were three ships still moored to the left side of the terrace, two small boats that probably belonged to two of the three families still inside the restaurant, and Usopp's jigsaw puzzle. Sanji looked at the ships for a moment, hoping that they wouldn't be in the way of the battle if one should be necessary. However, Sanji was pretty sure that there would be a battle, no matter what he did to prevent it.

As he reached the middle of the Fin, he stopped and watched the battleship gliding up next to the restaurant. The waves made by the large ship caused the restaurant to rock, but Sanji hardly noticed. His eyes locked on the middle-aged man in a bronze-colored armor standing by the railing next to the figurehead. Krieg was grinning down at him – a cold, ruthless grin that sent cold chills down Sanji's spine.

"Well, well," Krieg called down as the ship came to a stop and the anchor was lowered. "So the rumors were true after all. I heard that Zeff's little waiter boy had opened a restaurant after the old man croaked."

"You can just pack up and leave, Krieg," Sanji called back, his jaw clenched tightly. "You're not welcome at my restaurant."

Krieg gave up a loud, hoarse laugh.

"I couldn't care less about your measly little boat, boy," he barked, once again grinning coldly. "I've sailed through the Grand Line with this unsinkable battleship. One little restaurant isn't more than a grain of sand at the bottom of the sea."

"Is that so?" Sanji replied calmly, smirking lightly. Since Krieg had failed to mention One Piece, the chef suspected that the pirate had never reached that far through the Grand Line. However, Krieg didn't seem to be aware that Sanji also had been through the Grand Line – more than once. "So you managed to stay there longer than a week? I'm impressed."

Krieg suddenly looked very smug. He spread out his arms, while his grin grew wider.

"I must say that the Grand Line was difficult to sail," he confessed with feigned modesty. "All my new ships were destroyed during our journey, except for this ship. But now I've realized that you don't need a fleet, but a strong crew to be successful. So I've gathered a strong crew of 200 men, and together, we conquered the Grand Line."

"Con–_freaking_-gratulations," Sanji muttered, once again aware that Krieg had left One Piece out of his bragging. "Now go away, shithead, you're keeping my guests from finishing their meal."

The smile on Krieg's face vanished, and he glared down at Sanji.

"I don't think so, boy! Because I've been searching for this restaurant to get my revenge and _destroy it_! Gin! Pearl!"

Two men appeared next to Krieg, and Sanji's eyes narrowed as he recognized them. Krieg pointed at the restaurant and one of the men jumped down onto the Fin in front of Sanji. He wore a short white jacket with a red dragon-design on the sleeves; dusty white pants and a black shirt. A striped headband shaded his deep-set eyes as he looked directly at Sanji.

"We meet again, Sanji-san," he said, making no effort to hide the weapons in his hands. The weapons looked like the ones he had been only moments from killing Sanji with years earlier, but Sanji had a feeling that so was not the case. Gin had probably got himself new, stronger weapons over times.

"So it would seem, Gin," Sanji replied, puffing out a thin mist of smoke. "I see you survived the poison."

"I did," Gin said with a light nod. "But I won't fail Don Krieg this time. I spared your life last time because your kindness made me weak. But that won't happen again. I've trained for this moment."

"I figured as much." Sanji stuck his hands into his pockets and leaned back where he was standing, ready for any movement from his opponent.

There was a sudden noise coming from the restaurant, and Sanji glanced over his shoulder, spotting all his chefs and waiters storming out of the restaurant, carrying huge forks and knives in their hands. At the same time, he could hear the faint rustle of clothes next to him and threw himself to the side. The heavy metalsphere at the end of Gin's weapon crashed into the wooden floor where Sanji had been standing just as the chef's feet left the ground.

Curling up as he hit the floor, Sanji tumbled over and rolled back up on his feet again, cursing at himself for not paying attention to his opponent. By the sound of one of his chefs calling his name, he turned around and jumped back just in time to dodge another of Gin's forceful attacks.

_Shit_, he thought as he landed on the deck, almost slipping backwards on the moist floor as he faced his opponent. _He's a lot stronger than last time, and a lot faster._

Biting into the end of his cigarette, the chef couldn't hold back a smirk.

_Then again, so am I…_

"Owner!" one of the chefs cried out. "Leave him to us, we'll handle him!"

"No!" Sanji yelled, keeping his eyes on Gin, who were coming at him again with one of his heavy weapons spinning in his left hand. "I'll handle this one, you need to-"

A strike from Gin's weapon, which was only a hair's-breadth from taking Sanji's right arm off by the shoulder, interrupted him. Quickly stepping to the side while he swung his right leg upwards, Sanji buried his foot in his opponent's stomach and sent him flying back over the terrace with a satisfied grin.

"- to make sure that the rest of his crew doesn't sneak up on the restaurant," he finished once he put his foot back on the wooden floor, once again glancing over his shoulder at his chefs. "You got that, Pati? Carne?"

He didn't wait for a reply, but set off running towards Gin, who didn't seem to have fully regained his balance yet. Sanji had a feeling that he wouldn't win the battle by playing defensively. No, he would have to trust in his chefs' ability to keep the restaurant safe, and do everything in his power to defeat first Gin and then Krieg himself if he had to.

Leaping forward, Sanji turned around in midair, aiming a sweeping kick at the side of Gin's neck. His eyes widened as Gin dodged, and before he got the chance to recover from his failed attack, he saw the large metalsphere coming towards him in the corner of his eye. He heard a horrified cry from the direction of the restaurant just as he felt his lower ribs breaking from the force of the sphere colliding with his right side. With a painful gasp for air, he was thrown to the floor; feeling almost as if Gin's weapon had tore a large hole in his stomach.

He was suddenly aware of a roaring sound of cheers coming from the large battleship. Lifting his head, he caught a glimpse of a large number of cheering men standing by the railing of the battleship. The next moment, a whistling sound caught his attention and he rolled to the side, raising his arms to shield his face from a spray of wooden splinters as Gin's weapon buried itself deep in the terrace floor.

Growling, Sanji pressed the palms of his hands firmly against the wooden surface and let his legs sweep in a wide semicircle, causing Gin to lose his balance as the chef's feet slammed into the pirate's ankles. Swiftly, Sanji put down his left foot on the floor for balance and slammed his right leg over Gin's chest. The sounds of bones creaking were heard loud and clear as the pirate's eyes widened slightly.

As he pulled back from his opponent, Sanji could hear a roar, similar to the one coming from the pirate ship only a moment earlier, but this time, it came from the restaurant, where the chefs were cheering wildly. But he didn't take his eyes from Gin, who was lying sprawled on the floor in front of where the chef was sitting. He had a feeling that the battle was far from over, but he couldn't seem to get up from the floor.

He didn't see Gin's hand move towards his weapon before it was too late. He saw the pirate lash out for him, but didn't get the time to dodge. The metal sphere crashed into the side of his head, and he was flung to the side, the grinding sound of broken pieces of bones moving against each other roaring in his ears. Sanji landed hard on the floor and rolled to the side, still not sure if his head was still attached to his shoulders or not even if he was aware that he had lost his cigarette.

The faint swishing sound of Gin spinning his weapon reached the chef's ears, and he caught himself wishing that Gin would just get it over with and kill him already. That made him angry. Who was he to give up that easily?

Sanji. That's who he was. He was the head chef of the floating restaurant Sagatie, and the man who had fought countless battles side by side with the King of Pirates and his crew. One shitty little bastard of a pirate wasn't going to get the best of him.

Standing up slowly, he looked directly at Gin and lifted one hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. He tried to hide the pain in his ribs and the side of his head. The injuries were nothing compared to what he had lived through before, and he was certain that he could take at least ten more hits before it would even slow him down.

"Is that all you've got?" he asked with a lightly hoarse voice. His whole face felt like it was crumbling to pieces when he moved his jaw. "That didn't even tickle, you shitty bastard."

Gin frowned and lashed out for him again, but this time, Sanji was ready. Letting his weapon sweep horizontally through the air, Gin aimed directly at Sanji's chest, but the chef jumped into the air out of the pirate's reach. Twisting his body in the air, Sanji slammed the hard heel of his right foot between Gin's shoulder blades. As his left foot touched the floor, he spun around, sending Gin flying backwards across the terrace towards the moored Meri Go with a well-aimed kick to the chest.

Sanji raced after him, leaping high in the air and once again twisting his body to the point where his broken ribs protested loudly. His eyes met Gin's during the short moment before both his feet hit the pirate straight in the back and drove him through the wooden floor and into the water below. Panting lightly, Sanji dragged himself away from the hole in the floor and let his body relax for a moment. He just needed to catch his breath… Just a little.

His ears caught a sound coming from under the terrace, but before his brain had the chance to process the information, the floor right in front of him shattered from a forceful strike by Gin's weapon. Sanji pushed himself backwards into a handstand and let the movement lift him off the floor just as the metalsphere tore through the planks where he had been sitting. Landing on his feet and ignoring the pain racing through his chest, he turned around just in time to see Gin rise from the water, the determination in his eyes as vivid as before.

_Persistent little shit, isn't he?_ Sanji thought, feeling the broken bones in his face grind against each other as he clenched his jaw. He hoped that Chopper had learnt how to treat such injuries, or he would have yet another reason to hide half his face behind his hair.

He bent over backwards when Gin swung his weapon horizontally towards him, the metal ball brushing lightly against the buttons of his blue shirt. Planting his hands on the floor, he quickly brought his legs up, feeling a weight as his feet connected with Gin's body. By the time he remembered that the pirate still could move his arms, it was already too late.

Gin let his weapon slam in to Sanji's left side with full force, causing the chef to twirl around in the air for a short moment before the pirate let his second weapon fall. The metal sphere hit Sanji straight in the chest, and he was slammed into the wooden floor below without making a sound.

Gasping for air, Sanji had to force his body to stop twitching violently. That last hit felt like it had completely crushed his ribcage, and, he was slightly worried that he was going to see a deep cavity in his chest as he lifted his head from the floor. Fortunately for him, so was not the case. But as he looked up, he saw a large shadow coming right for his head and rolled away. His body protested wildly against the sudden movement, but Sanji didn't care. Once he had rolled away from harm's way and ended up on his back in the floor, he looked up again, only to face the same ominous shadow move towards him once again.

With most of his torso screaming at him to stop, Sanji curled up until his knees almost touched his forehead. He put his hands against the floor and pushed his aching body up into another handstand just as he unfolded his legs and placed all his strength behind the kick to Gin's head. After he felt his feet connect with his opponent's face, Sanji heard two heavy thumps as Gin dropped his weapons to the floor, followed by another, softer noise as Gin landed on the floor a few meters away.

Pushing away from the floor, Sanji managed to land on his feet in time to see his opponent slowly get up to his feet. The chef looked down at the metal clubs lying by his feet and turned his eyes towards Gin. He pulled back his left leg with a tired roar and sent the weapons flying through the air. Sinking down on his knees, he saw the clubs hit Gin in the forehead and straight in the chest, bringing the pirate to the floor with a short, guttural grunt.

_If he gets up again, I'm done for…_ he thought bitterly, eyeing the fallen pirate warily as he leaned slightly forward while crossing his arms over his chest and his aching ribs. His body was trembling with every painful breath he took, and he was sure that he was going to do more damage to himself than to Gin if he were to continue the battle. But Gin didn't move again. He was lying on the floor with his weapons by his side, breathing in a shallow and jerking manner.

Seeing one of his strongest men being defeated, Krieg gave up a loud roar, shortly accompanied by a chorus of voices. As Sanji looked up, he saw Krieg's pirates leaping down from the railing down onto the terrace. His eyes widened as he realized that he could hardly move without causing white-hot pain to rush through his body. Then, a voice was heard from the restaurant, followed by a loud cheering.

"Now it's our turn! Show them the true force of the fighting chefs!"

"Yeaaaaah!"

Sanji couldn't remember if he had ever been so happy to hear Pati's annoying voice in his life. He forced himself to get up from the floor just as the chefs and pirates clashed around him, feeling the smell of blood as Pati and Carne rushed through the crowd of pirates while slashing wildly with their large knives. Finding his balance, Sanji leaned back a little as his vision wavered in and out of focus while he watched the battle in a dreamlike state.

The chef's mind was instantly pulled out of its haze as he heard the distinct sound of the cock of a gun being pulled right next to his ear. Cursing himself for being so careless, Sanji expected to feel the bullet penetrate his head at any moment. But it never came. Instead, a very familiar, nasal voice was heard over the noise of the battle.

"Bet your life on it."

Sanji turned around, blinking as he saw Usopp standing next to him, aiming a slim pistol at the pirate who had threatened to blow the chef's brains out only a moment earlier. The pirate glanced nervously at the long-nosed marksman, who smirked before he continued to speak to the pirate with the same threatening voice.

"When you point a gun at someone, you put your own life on the line. So, what's it going to be?"

The pirate dropped the gun onto the floor, looking completely dumbfounded. Sanji brought his right leg straight up in the air, sending the coward flying into the sea before he turned to Usopp. The marksman was tucking the pistol in the holster on his right hip with a pleased grin on his face.

"That was some speech," Sanji said slowly, not really in the mood to give any compliments.

"Well, I didn't come up with it. I just repeated what someone said to me once…" he confessed, still grinning. "I heard some noise out here, so I told Chopper-- Watch out!"

Groaning, Sanji spun around, driving another cowardly pirate's head into the wooden floor. His strength seemed to be returning, even though he had fought just to keep himself standing only moments earlier. As he looked up, he was terrified to notice that a group of pirates had managed to get past his chefs and they were on their way towards the unguarded restaurant. Those bastards were _not_ going to destroy his treasure!

"NO!"

He was about to start running after the pirates when a blur of black and green appeared in the doorway, rushing through the group of attackers. Zoro finished his attack and nodded once at Sanji with a challenging look on his face as the pirates fell to the ground with weak cries of pain and the splatter of blood.

Behind the swordsman, by the entrance to the restaurant, Nami leaned against the doorframe with her old Bo staff in her hands.

"Don't worry, Sanji-kun!" she called out to him. Sanji suddenly experienced an indescribable happiness flowing through his whole being. "Robin is taking care of the guests, and we'll guard the restaurant. We'll make sure that they're safe. You're not alone, you know!"

Sanji smiled, even if the whole left side of his face hurt as he did so. The part of his mind that was aware of the damage Gin's attack must have made to his face was happy that his hair was hiding that half of it. But he chose to ignore that, at least for the moment. Nami was right, he wasn't alone, and he should have known better than to doubt that his nakama would aid him if he needed it.

Taking the opportunity to catch his breath, Sanji turned to watch the battle between the chefs and the pirates. It seemed as if the pirates were outnumbering the chefs with at least five to one, but Pati, Carne and a few of the other chefs were holding their own pretty well. Some of the pirates paused as they spotted Zoro standing in front of the pile of their fallen crewmates, making them easy targets for the battling chefs.

"Lolonoa Zoro!" someone cried. "It's the Pirate Hunter!"

"Lolonoa Zoro?" Krieg's voice rumbled over the other voices, casting a light echo between the ships.

Sanji looked up towards the battleship, where Krieg was leaning against the railing with an interested look on his face. Zoro also looked up towards the armored man, smirking lightly.

"Pirate Hunter, eh? That's a name I haven't heard in a while." The swordsman took the white-hilted katana from his mouth and looked questioningly up at Krieg. "What do you want, old man?"

"I take it as you haven't come for my head, then," Krieg chuckled cockily.

"Not really, no," Zoro shrugged, but kept his swords raised in front of him. Sanji and Usopp both let their eyes move between Zoro and Krieg, wondering which man would lose his temper first.

"Maybe you haven't heard of the bounty placed on my head," Krieg said, still chuckling.

Sanji rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket for a new cigarette. The sounds of the battle between the chefs and pirates were growing fainter around him, save for the occasional gunshot and the cries of pain that sometimes echoed over the water. It was definitely not the same thing to just stand by and watch other people fight.

"Oh, I have," Zoro replied, not without a tone of irritation in his voice. "400 million Belli, right? Then you're not even worth my time."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Zoro snorted and cast a glance at Sanji, who shook his head lightly and gestured for Usopp to keep his mouth shut. The marksman looked like he was about to protest, but one glare from Sanji made him stay quiet. There was no need to tell Krieg about their journey through the Grand Line if the man actually didn't know about it. The swordsman nodded.

"Why should I tell you?" he asked, turning back to Krieg. "It's not my fault if you're not reading the newspaper once in a while."

Krieg wasn't grinning anymore. He turned to the side, looking out over his ship while he waved his fist in the air.

"Boys!" he called out. "Bring out the secret weapon! Pearl, go down there and take care of the fleas. Don't disappoint me."

A large shadow landed hard on the far end of the Fin, causing most of the battling chefs and pirates to lose their balance. Sanji, Usopp and Zoro swayed lightly from the violent rocking of the ship, but managed to stay standing. All three of them looked towards the newly arrived enemy with mild interest, even if Sanji could sense that the marksman to his right was shivering lightly. Pearl was standing in the middle of the crowd of chefs and pirates and looked around while he slammed two round shields together. He seemed to be a bit surprised that the battle had paused so suddenly.

"Sending in Pearl-sama against a cook, a strange pirate and a simple swordsman," he said slowly. "You guys are a great disappointment if you can't handle them…"

In the corner of his eye, Sanji could see Zoro taking a step forward. He was about to protest, but kept quiet as a katana – the supposedly cursed one, if he wasn't mistaken – was aimed directly at his face.

"This one is mine," the swordsman growled. "You're not going to hog all the fun."

Sanji frowned. He had learnt to handle it when someone (other than Zoro) made snide comments about his cooking, but Zoro still seemed to take what Pearl said seriously. Unfortunately, there was hardly any way of stopping Zoro once he set his mind on a battle.

"Fine," he said, turning to Usopp to tell the marksman to go back to his ship to protect the kids. When Usopp hurried to his ship and swiftly climbed aboard, Sanji turned back to Zoro. "Just watch out for--"

But Zoro had already taken off. Sanji groaned silently. _Stupid, shitty swordsman_, he thought with a sigh. _Oh well, he can take care of himself._

The sound of swords colliding with metal was heard, and Sanji looked up. Just as he was about to call out the swordsman's name to warn him, Pearl broke free from Zoro's swords and raised his fist.

"Pearl Present!"

The name of the attack was followed by a smacking sound and a low grunt as Zoro was flung backwards and landed on his back in front of Sanji. Blinking, he shook his head and sat up to make sure that his katana were unharmed. He removed the white katana from his mouth for a moment and inspected the blade.

"Watch out, you said?" he muttered, not looking at Sanji as he rose from the floor with his swords in his hands. "You meant for that?"

Sanji nodded lightly, not in the mood to tease Zoro for getting hit that easily. This battle wasn't fun, and he knew that Zoro also felt it. There was something with this battle that was different from all the other fights they had been in, even the last time they had fought Krieg and his men. It was almost like there was nothing to be won, except maybe getting out of it alive. Even the battles in which the Straw Hat pirates had been only moments from being killed had been… Well, maybe not 'fun' in the usual meaning of the word, but in lack of other words to describe it, 'fun' seemed to be closest to the truth.

Sanji had to admit that his battle against Gin had been a little 'fun', but now… Now he just wanted the battle to be over with.

"Yeah," he said calmly to Zoro, watching the swordsman get up from the floor. "Watch out for that. Want me to take care of him?" He added the last part with a challenging smirk, hoping that it would make Zoro finish Pearl off faster.

"Fuck off," Zoro growled, placing the hilt of his white katana between his teeth again. Sanji simply shrugged, his shoulders twitching uncomfortably as the pain in his ribs made itself known again.

There was a cheerful roar as the last of Krieg's first wave of pirates fell, and as Sanji looked in the direction of the noise, he wasn't a bit surprised to see that almost all of his chefs only had received minor injuries like shallow cuts or bruises. Two of the chefs and four of the waiters were lying motionless on the floor, surrounded by others. Sanji sighed.

"Bring the injured to that ship!" he called out to the waiters, pointing in the direction of Usopp's pirate ship. "Go below deck and ask for Chopper! And what ever you do, don't call him a monster. Because if you do, I'll make sure you'll learn some manners!"

"A-aye, Owner!" came the shocked reply as the waiters obeyed. As all the chefs and the waiters moved from the battleground towards the Meri Go, Sanji was relieved to see his employees obey his orders so willingly for once in their lives. He did not have the energy to ask anyone twice about anything at that moment.

– e – e –

Zoro cricked his neck as he once again looked towards his enemy. Pearl wasn't really an intimidating foe. He was more strange than terrifying with the two round, pearl-decorated shields on his hands, two more strapped around his knees, and two larger ones protecting the front and back of his torso. And then there was the ridiculous hat, shaped like an enormous pearl. That was probably why Zoro had underestimated his enemy. The 'Pearl Present'-thing had caught him completely off-guard, but it wouldn't happen again.

"Coming back for more?" Pearl asked with his slow, bored voice. "I'm amazed that you can still stand after receiving one of my improved Pearl Presents. I, Pearl-sama, was once known as Iron Wall Pearl, but not anymore. Now, I'm the ultra-upgraded Steel Wall Pearl!"

_I think I'll ignore that he just said 'ultra-upgraded'_, Zoro thought to himself and smirked. Raising his swords, he started moving towards Pearl once more. This time, he wouldn't be surprised by that 'Pearl Present'-thing. Crossing his arms in front of him, he sped up and dashed towards his enemy.

"Demon…"

Dodging a steel-enforced fist, Zoro's attack was interrupted and he jumped backwards, catching a second punch with the blades of his katana. His eyes met the dazed look under his opponent's heavy eyelids for a short moment before he decided to strike back. He could feel that the outcome of the battle already had been decided, just like he had felt it before he had even drawn his beloved Wadou Ichimonji to challenge Hawk-Eyes Mihawk five years earlier.

"Pearl Cross!"

Zoro barely managed to dodge as Pearl slammed the shields on his hands together with monstrous force. He rolled to the side and got up on one knee, the clanging sound ringing in his ears. Growling, he turned around, letting one of his katana fall just as his opponent lashed out in another Pearl Present-attack. He watched with bitter amusement as his blade sank into the steel, cutting the shield in half. Pearl gave up a surprised yelp and pulled back his hand before the katana could cut through it as well.

"Da-dangerous…" he stammered, staring at Zoro with wide eyes. Zoro looked back at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah? Figured that out so soon?" he growled, gripping the hilts of his katana tightly. "I'm sick of this now, and I don't mind if you die."

Planting his left foot firmly on the floor, Zoro gathered his energy and let it flow through his upper body.

"Dragon…"

Spinning his swords once and letting his body join in the movement, he swiftly created a tornado which twisted itself up in the air, carrying Steel Wall Pearl with it. It was an attack he had used so many times before, but he still had to remember not to let it grow too large, or it could end up tearing the whole restaurant to pieces along with everyone around him.

"COIL!

Spreading out his arms, Zoro cut all the energy connecting him to the tornado and let it rise further up in the air. High above the battleground, Pearl whirled around in the air, the razor-sharp edges of the whirlwind tearing his steelshields to pieces. Steel was nothing to a swordsman who could cut straight through diamond. When Zoro let his katana slide back into their sheaths, the tornado vanished, causing Pearl to plummet straight for the wooden Fin.

– e – e –

As the wind died, Sanji glared at Zoro from where he sat on the floor. He definitely should have seen that one coming, but he had kept telling himself that _maybe_ Zoro knew better than to use his tornado-attack in the middle of a crowd. Then again, it was after all Zoro he had in front of him, not someone who were known for his astonishing intellect.

"What the hell, you shitty swordsman!" he yelled, rising to his feet so fast that his broken ribs protested wildly. "What are you trying to do, destroy the ship?"

Zoro didn't reply. He simply glanced at Sanji over his shoulder and turned towards Krieg's ship, securing the leatherstraps binding his katana to his side. This annoyed Sanji at first, but then he felt that he really didn't care at that moment. If they didn't get rid of Krieg and his pirates soon, there was no need for arguments, even though the arguing and competitions always made both him and Zoro fight harder. But it sure didn't seem like that would be necessary in this battle.

As Pearl crashed head-first into the wooden terrace, Sanji could hear the terrified voices of Krieg's pirates from the other side of the Fin.

"Pearl-san was defeated!"

"How's that possible? Pearl-san's shields are supposed to be indestructible!"

In the corner of his eye, Sanji saw a movement from the pile of human limbs and wooden splinters that was Pearl. To Sanji's light amazement, the large man actually got up on his feet, even if he looked a bit wobbly. Pearl's eyes were unfocused as he stumbled forward, blood dripping from numerous cuts all over his body.

"I, Pearl-sama," he grunted, almost tripping over a piece of one of his destroyed shields. "…Won't be beaten by some lowly cook or swordsman."

"You weren't," Sanji said, casting another glare towards Zoro. He still wanted to kick the swordsman for putting his restaurant in danger like that. "We're not just some cook and swordsman…"

Sanji moved forward just at the same time Zoro did. His kick connected with Pearl's chest at the same time Zoro's fist was buried in the enemy's now unprotected stomach. The large man flew backwards from the force of the double attack, crashing straight into the side of Krieg's battleship before he dropped into the ocean with a splash.

"We're pirates!" Sanji and Zoro said in unison as they looked up at Krieg, challenging him to fight. Sanji tapped the toe of his left shoe against the wooden floor while Zoro's hand moved towards his katana.

Krieg didn't seem to have been the least affected by his strongest men losing so easily. At least he hadn't talked about any poison gas yet.

"Pirates? Is that so?" he said, chuckling hoarsely.

"That's right!" Pati and Carne called out proudly from where they were standing by Usopp's pirate ship, their fists raised in the air.

Sanji glared at them over his shoulder.

"You old geezers stay out of this," he snapped. "When you're done getting patched up, you can all go back to the restaurant, we're already behind schedule for today."

There was no reply, neither protesting or approving, and Sanji turned away again. He didn't want to sound arrogant or anything, but he had a feeling that it would be best if his chefs got away from the Fin.

Krieg suddenly started to laugh. Sanji looked up at the man, feeling so fed up with just standing there.

"Yeah, we're pirates," he said, letting his eyes wander to the thin trail of smoke that twisted and coiled itself in the light breeze as it rose from his cigarette. "What's it to you?"

"In that case, that would make your little fish-boat here a pirate ship, wouldn't it?" Krieg's grin grew wider. "And I know just how to handle a pirate ship. Boys!"

It was not until now that Sanji noticed the cannon placed in the prow of Krieg's ship. His eyes widened as the cannon moved and was aimed directly at the Sagatie. Krieg couldn't be _that_ desperate to get revenge, could he?

"Che, cannonballs are no match for me," Zoro snorted, but Sanji wasn't completely certain that it would be that easy.

"That piece of shit has something up his sleeve," muttered the chef, glaring at Krieg, who laughed as a few of his men carried a large red cannonball towards the prow.

"This is, as you might already have guessed, no ordinary cannonball," Krieg said, still grinning like a madman. "It is made to explode once it touches something solid, like a ship or a building. Of course, this means that once it has been fired - it cannot be stopped."

"I'll just cut it in half," Zoro muttered, causing Sanji to glare at him once more as he reached for his katana.

"And then what?" Sanji demanded. "What if the two pieces still hits my restaurant and explodes? Nami-san and Robin-chan are still in there, damn it!"

Zoro glared back at him, clearly as frustrated as Sanji.

"Well, what the hell do you suggest we do then?" he snapped.

Sanji frowned as he looked up at Krieg again. The armored man seemed to be celebrating his victory already, as he leaned against the railing with a wide grin on his face. Sanji growled and clenched his jaw.

"I'll make sure that the shithead up there doesn't fire the cannon at all."

He set off running the short distance towards the battle ship, making a giant leap up onto the railing in front of Krieg and sent a sweeping kick to the pirate's head. Krieg stumbled and took a step backwards, clearly surprised.

"Want to know why that guy isn't interested in your pathetic bounty?" Sanji asked, not bothering to keep his cool anymore. His head was aching worse than his ribs now, and he didn't want anything else than to sink Krieg's ship and go back to his restaurant. Before Krieg could reply, Sanji aimed another kick to his head, causing the King of East Blue to trip over his own feet.

"Do you really think that we've just lazed about here in East Blue these last then years?" he asked, jumping down from the railing.

A few of Krieg's men – probably the same pirates who had loaded the cannon earlier – approached the chef, but before they reached him, they were felled to the floor by the strike of a sharp sword. Sanji tilted his head towards Zoro with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"I thought I told you that I would handle this. I don't need your help."

"Who said anything about helping you?" Zoro said casually, leaning the flat side of his katana against his neck. "I told you before that I'm not gonna let you hog all the fun. I don't care if you get to take down the old man, but I'm not standing around watching you fight."

"Fine, knock yourself out," Sanji nodded in the direction of the group of pirates that emerged from below deck. As Zoro moved to fight the pirates, the chef turned back to Krieg. "Where was I? Oh yes… I was about to tell you why you should have stayed in the Grand Line once you managed to get there."

Krieg looked nervous for a moment, but he soon recovered and grinned again.

"I see you inherited the old geezer's attitude, boy," he said.

"I've been to the Grand Line, you shitty excuse for a pirate," Sanji growled without taking any notice of Krieg's words. He sent away another kick, this time aimed at the pirate's stomach. His foot slammed against the armor, leaving a light dent in it. "And the pirate clan I was in sailed there for nine years."

He spun around, his left leg shooting out with the force of a cannonball, but Krieg caught his foot and twisted it. Sanji fell to the floor, pulling back his leg and rolling to the side to avoid getting stomped at. Krieg growled loudly.

"A brat like you - sailing the Grand Line? Do you think I'm stupid, boy?"

_Yes_, Sanji thought to himself. _Yes, you're the most stupid piece of shit I've ever met, and I'm going to kick your ass. _The chef had finally reached the limit of his patience. Obviously, the only way of finishing Krieg off was to hit him fast and hard. Sanji just hoped that his body would last long enough for him to take care of the pirate. He was already having light problems with moving freely because of the pain rushing through his upper body. So far, he had been able to keep that under control, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up.

"You wanted to know why Zoro wasn't interested in your bounty," he said out loud, slowly getting up from the floor. "That's because he isn't a bounty hunter anymore, but a wanted man. Just like me."

Krieg looked at Sanji for a moment, and started to laugh. Sanji lifted his hand and loosened his tie a bit, feeling the fine silk under his fingers as he watched the pirate.

"You – a wanted man? What kind of bounty would they put on a brat like you?"

Sanji's eyes were cold as he nodded towards Zoro, who was looking rather bored while he fought Krieg's pirates.

"That guy is worth between 800 or 900 million these days," he said calmly, but with a cold undertone. "He's the man who beat Hawk-Eyes Mihawk. And down there..."

Sanji nodded towards the Sagatie, where his chefs were starting to move from the pirate ship to the restaurant. "There are two women in that restaurant, who are worth about 320 million and 825 million. They were also part of the pirate crew I belonged to.

"That shabby-looking ship over there belongs to another of my nakama. He is worth around a 300 million, and his crewmate has a bounty of 162 million."

Glaring at Krieg, Sanji took a step forward, his hands clenched tightly. "And I… Before the Marines _supposedly_ pardoned me, I had a bounty of 697 million on my head. I'm the one who found All Blue, by the way. You might also have heard of my captain, Monkey D. Luffy. The guy who kicked your ass last time we met? He's known as the Pirate King these days."

Krieg seemed to be stunned by this information. Sanji guessed that Zoro had been on the right track when he said that Krieg wasn't reading the newspaper.

"Yeah," he hissed. "We found the One Piece. You mentioned that I inherited the shitty old geezer's attitude. Well, guess what? That's not all I inherited from him."

Jumping forward, Sanji made a somersault and let his foot slam down onto Krieg's unprotected head. Before he landed on the ground, he turned around, sending a round-house kick straight through Krieg's armor. The pirate stumbled backwards and almost fell flat on his back, feebly grasping at the hole in his armor.

"Before I became the head chef of my restaurant, I was known as Red-Legged Sanji!" he said loudly as he landed on the ground, quickly getting up in a handstand. "And I think you know where such a nickname would come from."

Letting his feet once again slam down onto the pirate's head, Sanji pushed himself from the floor and soared through the air over Krieg's head. Once he landed, he could feel a light sinking feeling in his chest beneath the throbbing pain of his ribs. That couldn't be good. He had fought with broken ribs many times before, but this sensation was new to him.

He swept his left leg along the deck, sweeping Krieg off his feet. He then got up as fast as he could, placing his foot against the pirate's throat with a satisfied smirk.

"Pinned ya'," he said teasingly, challenging Krieg to fight back. He was feeling a bit out of breath, but that was probably just because of the energy the pain in his broken bones was stealing from him. He hesitated as Krieg started to laugh and stared at the man under his foot, not sure what to think.

"If your nakama are so great, Red-Legged Sanji," Krieg laughed, coughing a little as Sanji pressed his foot harder against the pirate's throat. "Then why aren't they helping you defend your precious ship? FIRE!"

Turning around, Sanji spotted the two pirates who had managed to get away from Zoro. They were lighting the short fuse to the cannon aimed at his restaurant. Krieg gave up another growling laugh.

"Or more importantly, why aren't they helping you defend yourself?"

Sanji heard a metallic click and turned around, spotting several guns which were suddenly sticking out from Krieg's armor. He stumbled back just as the sound of gunshots rang in his ears. The whistling sound of a bullet flying straight past his ear made him throw himself to the side, but he could feel the sharp, stinging pain as two bullets buried themselves in his left thigh and shoulder.

As he landed on the deck, Sanji curled up against the pain and looked towards Krieg, who was getting up from the floor. Panting heavily, Sanji made the effort to glare stubbornly at the pirate.

"They don't have to," he said with an unsteady voice, finding it hard to speak properly. "I can take care of myself, so--"

He was interrupted by the deafening explosion as the cannon was fired. The red cannonball flew in a wide arc before it started to go down towards the restaurant. Sanji's eyes widened, and as he realized that he wasn't going to be able to get down to his restaurant, he turned his eyes away, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

_Sagatie… Nami-san! Robin-chan!_ he thought, Krieg's growling laughter echoing in his mind._ Forgive me… I wanted to save you…_

Then, as if through the mists of a dream, a very familiar voice cut through the pain that kept Sanji paralyzed on the deck and made the chef look up.

"Gomu Gomu no Balloon!"

* * *

_I'm quite happy with the first half of this chapter, but I'm not sure about the flow in the second half... Also, I think I butchered Krieg's character. I made him seem stupid, instead of arrogant as I planned. Ah well... Anyway, I haven't started writing the next chapter, so it might take a while before I upload it._

_Thank you for all your reviews. They're what keeps my writing spirit up._

_Jade Tatsu - You know, I hope heunderstands that as well. When you're around your nakama all the time, it's not hard to start taking their presence for granted._

_FieryKitsune - I hope that he gets to find All Blue some day. A part of me thinks that they are already sailing there, and that the whole Grand Line is All Blue, but I'm not sure about that theory. I actually find Sanji and Zoro's constant arguinginteresting, since they are both very competetive, and both of them would rather die than to admit defeat._


	8. Not his battle

So, here's the next chapter, after a long wait. When I had started writing this, I was side-tracked while correcting some minor things in the previous chapters, and couldn't find the main thread of the story again. But now it's here, so I won't keep you from reading it. I hope you'll enjoy it.

* * *

For a moment, Sanji wasn't sure that he had heard right. He tried to get up from the deck, but his left arm and leg didn't seem to obey any command his mind sent out to them. His ears registered a faint twanging sound, but he was too focused on why his body wouldn't obey him to pay any real attention to it. 

Sanji almost cried out in surprise as something was wrapped around him, and he gasped as his aching ribs were crushed together while he was lifted from the deck. His feet flailed feebly as they lost contact with the wooden floor, and he clenched his teeth against the pain that rushed out from his chest into the rest of his body.

It was getting so hard to breathe. Through the strange haze surrounding him, Sanji's attention was drawn upwards as someone growled in his ear.

"What the hell are you doing, sitting there like some idiot?"

Grunting lightly in protest and a bit of pain, Sanji found that he was being carried across the deck towards the railing. It took him an additional second to realize that the thing that was crushing his chest together was an arm. A tanned, muscular arm covered in scars.

_Oh, hell no… _Sanji groaned silently, now wishing that it was all just a horrible, horrible dream that he would wake up from at any moment.

"Ow! Easy, damn it," he managed to hiss between clenched teeth as his ribs gave a particularly stinging throb. As a reply, the arm was wrapped tighter around him, pressing almost all the air out of his lungs. Trying not to gasp for air, Sanji growled quietly, but was quieted by the same voice as before.

"Hey, I wouldn't mind leaving you up here, but I don't think _he_ would be happy about it."

Sanji's aggression towards the swordsman suddenly faded, making room for the memory of what just had happened. Krieg, the cannon, Luffy's voice… And what about the cannonball? There hadn't been any explosion yet.

He felt a light jerk as Zoro stepped up on the railing of the ship. Sanji squirmed a little to point out that he wasn't completely thrilled about being rescued by Zoro, or being carried in that fashion for that matter. When Zoro leaped out from the ship, Sanji glared at him over his shoulder, and that was when he spotted it - the red cannonball, which was soaring through the air back towards Krieg's ship.

There was a moment of absolute silence, in which Sanji barely had the time to wonder if he simply had gone deaf. Then, when the cannonball made contact with the battleship, an earsplitting explosion shook the very air around them and left the chef's ears ringing. Sanji could feel Zoro's grip around him loosen as they were pushed forward by the shockwave, and he turned around in midair so that he could see the ship.

An enormous pillar of black smoke and flames rose from the main deck of the battleship, and the sound of more explosions came from inside the vessel. As he let his eyes sweep over the ship, Sanji hoped intensely that Krieg had his weapon storage in the prow of his ship, as far away from the explosions as possible. A larger explosion could tear them all to pieces.

The battleship's large main mast swayed violently for each explosion before it started to fall with a loud squeal of splintered wood. There were screams coming from all around Sanji, both from his chefs and Krieg's pirates, who had started to gather together in the water around the Fin.

"Ghk…" Sanji wrapped his wounded arm around his chest as he landed on the wooden Fin, a little less graceful than usual. More exactly, if he hadn't reached out his right foot and pushed himself away from the Fin, he would have landed face-first on the floor. Zoro landed next to him a brief moment later, the clattering sound of the sheaths of his katana hitting the floor easing the ringing in Sanji's ears.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Sanji looked up at the falling mast as he tried to catch his breath – his lungs felt like they weren't filling up with air like they should – and turned to Zoro. He wasn't sure if he was looking at Zoro to ask for help or simply to try to find some way of blaming the swordsman for everything that had happened since Krieg had arrived.

"The mast," he said, panting lightly. "It's going to hit us."

"I'm not blind," Zoro replied, less acidly than Sanji would have expected. "Get up so we can do something about it."

Sanji nodded. He straightened his legs and brushed some dust off his pants while he tried to estimate the severity of his injuries. His upper left thigh was throbbing a bit when he put his weight on it, but he didn't think that there would be any problem to use it for balance. The pain in his ribs had turned into a solid, droning throb, but it wasn't bothering him anymore. He was already adapting to his injuries, and he felt that he probably could fight again if he had to. But first he had to do something about the mast that threatened to crush his beloved restaurant.

Zoro was already in the air when Sanji leaped upwards. The chef could see the flashes of light reflected in the blades of the three katana as they were drawn from their sheaths. He could hear the sound of metal against wood, and saw the change in the falling mast's angle before he swept his right leg to the side. Hot flashes of pain swept through his body and seemed to tear his body apart when his foot collided with the heavy wood and broke it in half.

The broken, airborne piece of the mast bent together at the point where Sanji's kick had connected with it, and it was flung to the side, away from the restaurant while the other part continued to fall towards the wooden terrace.

The far end of the Fin was shattered under the weight of the mastpiece, causing the other side of it to rise out of the water. The force behind the impact between the wooden floor and the falling piece of the mast pulled the restaurant and the ships that were still moored to the Fin to the side and made it tilt heavily. A cacophony of frightened voices came from the carp-shaped ship as its starboard side was pressed down in the water.

Sanji landed on the Fin with a painful thud, a part of him wondering if his body parts were still attached to each other the way they should. It felt like some of them might have switched places without notifying him first. Groaning, he looked up at the growing smoke pillar and the battleship that had started to tilt a little to the side.

He could hear voices calling his name and turned his head towards his restaurant, where two of his waiters were clinging to the outer railing for dear life. In the corner of his eye, he could still see movements aboard Usopp's jigsaw puzzle of a pirate ship where she was moored to the tilting terrace next to the two smaller ships.

"Don't just stand there!" Sanji called out to the waiters aboard the Sagatie. "Release the Fin and get my restaurant the hell away from here!

"You there!" he continued, turning towards a few of his employees who were still waiting for Chopper to take care of their wounds aboard the Meri Go. All of them seemed to be shocked by the explosion, the falling mast and everything else that had happened. "Cut loose those three ships and follow Sagatie!"

"But owner…" one of the chefs stammered. "This ship is a pirate ship and…"

"There are _children_ aboard it!" Sanji cut off, not bothering to be the least patient. "If the captain has any complaints, he can thank me later when this chunk of shit metal--" He thrust his thumb in the direction of Krieg's flaming battleship. "--isn't threatening to blow a hole in the ocean. Now do as I say and do it NOW!"

As the men hurried to follow his orders, Sanji sank down on the still tilting floor, his left arm once again wrapped around his chest. The amount of energy he had wasted by just keeping his voice steady had been ridiculously large, and he felt almost completely drained all of a sudden.

He could feel the light jerk as Sagatie finally was freed from the damaged Fin, and in the corner of his eye, he could see the Meri Go and the other two smaller boats casting loose. There was the sound of sails being set and filled with wind, followed by the soft hissing of the bow of ships cutting through the water. However, his attention wasn't on any of those things, but on the sound of sandals slip-slopping against the wooden floor.

"You sure know how to make an entrance," Sanji said, still panting lightly with his eyes locked on a small crack in the floor by his feet. "I was starting to think you'd never show up."

There was no reply, and Sanji looked up. To his left, Zoro seemed to be occupied watching the smoke rising up from Krieg's ship or keeping an eye out for more enemies, but the angle in which the swordsman tilted his head ever so lightly to the side revealed that he was watching Sanji and Luffy from the corner of his eye. Of course, Sanji thought, that so-called First Mate had always seemed to know when he was supposed to stay out of something that wasn't his business. However, that had never kept him from eavesdropping, whether he was pretending to sleep or just standing around the corner.

Of course, Sanji understood the reason Zoro did that. Aboard the Going Merry, information wasn't that important. Of course, you could always be certain that you got to know what you had to know, and if you still wanted to know more, you waited for someone to eavesdrop on. It was as simple as that. And the reason to that approach was standing right in front of Sanji, wearing the same kind of red vest and blue jeans he had been wearing throughout most of their adventures. Some things in life never really changed.

Having seen Ace so recently, Sanji was struck by how much Luffy looked like his older brother. Even though he was still as lanky as he had always been, it was only after a year away from Luffy that Sanji noticed the similarities between the two brothers. They had the same naturally messy hair; the same pointed jaw and even the same air of authority about them.

Luffy was looking around at the departing ships, the damaged battleship and the wooden Fin he was standing on with a very confused look on his face. Sanji turned his eyes away from his former captain and looked towards Krieg's battleship. There was still no sign of Krieg himself, and Sanji caught himself hoping that the cannonball had hit the pirate. That way, everyone could go back to their own lives and forget about the whole ordeal.

"I don't think I've ever experienced a day this rotten in my entire life," he muttered, light gasps for air slipping in between the words as he spoke. "Luffy?"

He turned back to look at Luffy, who was looking back at him with a curious expression in his wide eyes.

"Yeah?" the pirates said with a very cheerful voice.

Sanji coughed and loosened his tie a little more. He was starting to feel kind of desperate to get as much air into his lungs as he possible could, but it didn't seem like his body was willing to cooperate that easily.

"Thanks for saving my restaurant."

"Huh?" Luffy turned to look after the ships that were sailing away from them. "That was your boat, Sanji?"

He laughed and ran his fingers through his messy hair. It wasn't until then that Sanji noticed that the man wasn't wearing his straw hat. Could Luffy have met up with the man who once gave him the old hat and returned it?

"I just came here but there was an explosion and all of a sudden, I heard Nami telling me to watch out. Then I saw this cannonball coming right for me…" When he spoke, Luffy's eyes moved from Sanji to the fleeing ships and then over the Fin. Then, he suddenly fell silent and raised his hand with a wide grin. "Yo, Zoro! I knew I'd find you here!"

Hearing the swordsman greet Luffy in return, Sanji couldn't do anything but shake his head. Luffy hadn't changed at all since the last time they met. Slowly and stiffly, Sanji got up from the floor, his eyes locked on the now slowly sinking battleship.

Swaying where he was standing, Sanji felt as if a giant invisible hand had been wrapped around his chest, squeezing the air out of his lungs with incredible force. He broke down in a coughing fit, which he immediately tried to hold back. The broken bones in his body cricked as he wrapped his arms around himself to stop the spastic coughing, and he sank down on one knee, fighting to regain control over himself. Once the attack faded and Sanji was on his knees on the floor, gasping for air like a fish on dry land, he still managed to growl and tried to pull away from the hand that was placed on his shoulder. He could feel two pair of eyes on him, and the concerned looks those eyes were giving him almost burned holes in his suit.

"I'm… fine…" he said breathlessly, easing the grip around his chest to brush Zoro's hand from his shoulder.

As he looked past Zoro up at the battleship, where a figure had made its way up to the railing, he frowned. He blinked faintly as the sun was reflected off the scratched surface of a bronze-colored armor.

"Looks like shithead over there woke up."

The sound of a gunshot echoed over the water, and a bullet dug itself into the floor right in front of Luffy's feet. Luffy didn't even wince by the loud noise, but his eyes were drawn towards the tiny metal fragment in the floor in front of him. He almost looked like he was examining the item carefully before he looked up towards the direction the bullet had come from. Sanji's eyes never left the figure standing up on the battleship, and he felt a bit disappointed that Krieg still was alive.

Krieg laughed hoarsely, accompanied by the clicking sound of guns being cocked.

"Thought you were rid of me, didn't you?" he asked, shooting another bullet into the wooden Fin, this time just barely missing Sanji's left knee. Not moving an inch from the spot where he was sitting, the chef glared at Krieg, feeling the urge to kill the pirate rising for each minute.

"Yeah, I got my hopes up for nothing," Sanji muttered, trying to suppress yet another coughing turn. This time, he was glad that no one was trying to aid him when his body twitched in his attempts to keep himself from coughing.

"Zoro, you two can go ahead without me. Take Sanji to Chopper…"

The voice was calm, but between the coughs that still shook his body, Sanji's trained ear could easily catch the faint, sharp tone between the words. Once the attack subsided, Sanji turned his head towards Luffy, who was standing calmly on the Fin while looking up at Krieg. The pirate captain wasn't looking at Sanji or Zoro, but kept his eyes locked on the armored man aboard the battleship.

"You've done what you can, now I'll take care of this."

Then he turned his head towards Zoro and grinned. For a moment, Sanji expected Zoro to protest against Luffy's order, but the swordsman simply looked at the Pirate King and nodded:

"Aye, Captain."

When Zoro's grip of his shoulder tightened, Sanji growled and tried to move away again, but the green-head easily pulled him up from the floor and pushed him towards a small vessel that was moored to the edge of the terrace. It looked like a wooden raft trying to pass as a rowboat, with a flat bottom surrounded by semi-high edges - all of it built out of what looked like the remains of a shipwreck; there were even some old dried barnacles stuck to the inside of the aft railing.

"Get in," Zoro said curtly, giving Sanji a light push between the shoulder blades to get him to hurry up a little.

Stumbling into the boat, Sanji sat down in the front, tiredly eyeing the puddles of water that had gathered in the bottom. Great. He was trapped in a raft (which in his opinion still seemed to be posing as a rowboat) with Zoro, while Luffy fought the battle for him. A battle which Sanji felt he should be fighting himself.

"It's not his fight…" he muttered, failing to hold back a violent cough that made his lungs feel as if they were going to explode.

The boat rocked as Zoro stepped into it and sat down by the oars in the middle. He smirked as he rolled up the mooring line and threw it onto the bottom of the boat.

"Of course not," he said calmly, grabbing the oars. "How many fights have you seen him fight for just his own sake?"

Sanji turned his eyes back to the water at the bottom of the boat as they began moving away from the broken Fin. Zoro had a point. Most of the battles Luffy had won over the years had been fought for someone else. Of course, Luffy would never have got into any of the fights if he hadn't got something out of it himself. But it had often seemed that he was satisfied with just knowing that he had beaten yet another strong enemy and put an end to their evil-doing. That he often saved whole cities or even countries was often just a very fortunate bonus. That, and of course the feast that usually followed the victory.

"Right," Sanji smirked as well as he could, but the expression turned out a little more crooked than he had intended as a sudden flash of pain spread across the left side of his face. Clenching his teeth, he tried to act as if it didn't bother him, but he had the feeling that he didn't succeed to do so.

As from a far distance, he could hear Krieg's voice as he spoke to Luffy and Luffy's voice as he calmly replied. However, the chef couldn't make out any words the men said. The voices started to melt together with the rhythmic splash of Zoro's oars moving through the water, and Sanji felt how he was getting more and more focused on getting air into his lungs than on anything else. His broken ribs, wounded shoulder and thigh were all aching much worse than his face, but he didn't care about the pain as long as he could still draw one more breath after the next. Soon, he noticed how a dizzy feeling draped itself over him and he seemed to be slowly disconnected from the rest of the world.

"Oi, Zoro…" he said between two deep breaths when he no longer could see clearly.

Colorful sparks flashed before his eyes when he tried to move to a better position. He held his left arm wrapped loosely around his chest, but it still felt like someone had strapped a large metal band around him, which was slowly being tightened, allowing less and less air to enter his lungs.

"Do you think you could row a little faster?"

"Yeah, I guess… Why?" Zoro asked, an eyebrow raised in question as Sanji tried to focus his gaze on the swordsman. He seemed to be a bit confused over the lack of insults in Sanji's words.

"Because…" Sanji leaned forward over his knees as far as his ribs allowed and looked up at the blur of tanned skin and green that was Zoro's face, trying to make it clear that he wasn't joking around. "Because I can't breathe…"

The world disappeared in complete darkness before his eyes, leaving him in a compact blackness where the distorted sound of the water splashing around him was the only thing that seemed to be somewhat real. Sanji could feel how he started to tip over to one side as his body was relaxed. But just as he felt that he was about to fall into the water, the boat suddenly rocked and a pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the edge to place him on the flat bottom.

He managed to stir a little where he lay in the puddles of water at the bottom of the boat, but the movement only seemed to push more air out of his lungs, so he stopped. When he felt the boat move again, he allowed himself to relax a bit, only focusing his energy on breathing in and out and to stay awake.

"Oi, you stupid cook." Zoro's voice sounded distant in Sanji's ears, but he could still hear the slightly annoyed and yet calm tone in the swordsman's voice. "I'm the one who's supposed to get this badly beat up, not you."

The bitter smirk in Zoro's voice was badly disguised as the swordsman continued: "Stupid bastard, it's just a ship. It's not worth dying for."

There was no real force behind the words, and Sanji understood. Zoro had said the exact same thing to Usopp once, when the topic of letting Going Merry go to rest and getting a new, larger ship once again had caused the marksman to fall out with the whole crew in his attempts to convince them that Merry was the only ship they would ever need.

To some people, a hat which is the symbol for an important promise is a priceless treasure. To others, a ship or a sword which holds a memory of the past has the same value. Sanji had come to understand this better than ever the first time he stepped into the newly built and launched Sagatie and felt the smell of wood and new steel, a smell that brought him back twenty years, when he was still under the care of the shitty old man.

"Is that right?" Sanji managed to mutter, his right hand reaching up to remove his tie and unbutton the two top buttons of his shirt. "Then why did you fight to protect it?"

"I was bored," came the simple answer, and Sanji found that he didn't feel the need to argue about that. He turned his concentration away from Zoro and focused on synchronizing his breath with the sound of the oars splashing in and out of the water.

– e – e –

"Ha, ha, ha, if it isn't the rubberkid," Krieg planted his foot against the railing of his damaged ship and looked down towards the shattered terrace below. He laughed. "So, did you make it to the Grand Line and One Piece, kid?"

"Yeah," Luffy replied calmly as he looked up at the older pirate. He was standing perfectly still, listening to the footsteps of his nakama as they stepped into Zoro's boat. He still wasn't sure what had been going on before the cannonball almost hit him, and he didn't really care. All he did know was that Sanji was hurt, and somehow, the old man up on the large ship seemed to be responsible for that. The same man who had shot a bullet at him. Of course, he wouldn't have been hurt even if it had hit him, since bullets don't affect rubber, but it had startled him and he didn't like that.

The old man looked awfully familiar, but Luffy couldn't remember if he had ever met him or just seen his face on a wanted-poster. His name was… Err… Name, name… Luffy mentally poked his brain to get some sort of response to his pondering. _Don_ was the only response he got, and that wasn't very helpful. Don… Don… Nope, didn't ring a bell. _Bon_, maybe? Bon… Bon… Bon-chan? Wait, that couldn't be right… That name only brought an image of weird makeup and lots of pink to Luffy's mind. He decided to let it rest, it didn't really matter anyway. He was hungry, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't get anything to eat until the old man had gone away.

"So you've been there, eh? Then where is your crown, _'King of Pirates'_?" Krieg said mockingly, apparently not aware that Luffy had been seconds away of getting completely side-tracked.

"My navigator has it," Luffy replied, pointing towards the direction he had last seen the large restaurant where he had seen Nami and Robin. "So I don't drop it in the ocean."

Luffy ran his fingers through his hair to assure himself that he wasn't still wearing his precious treasure on his head. Once he was convinced that he hadn't forgotten to leave it with Nami, he let that thought slip into oblivion. Absentmindedly picking his nose with his pinky, he tilted his head a little to the left.

"Ne, old man," he said, his eyes drifting over towards Sanji and Zoro who had got into the little boat and were on their way to the larger ships and to Chopper. "Why don't you just take your men and get out of here?"

He looked up with a serious expression in his eyes when the man by the railing of the sinking ship started laughing.

"Get out of here? Why would I do that?" Krieg spun the pistol he had fired earlier around his index finger and looked very cocky.

Luffy simply grinned, but it was a slanted, shrewd grin that would have made the most fearless pirate feel uncomfortable. He stretched out his arms in front of him and cracked his knuckles one by one, still with the grin on his face.

"Because you've already lost," he said, still staying perfectly calm. "Sanji had already beaten you before I got here. But if you're so eager to get your ass kicked, I won't hold back at all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Krieg growled, still not moving from his spot by the railing. "He beat me before you got here, you say? How did you get that idea, kid?"

"You haven't managed to kill him," Luffy replied. "And even if I hadn't come here, you wouldn't have beaten him."

Krieg started to laugh again, but he didn't seem to be as sure of himself as before.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because the moment his treasure was hit by the cannonball, he would have killed you."

Luffy clenched his fists, measuring the height of the battleship somewhat carefully. After a very painful episode a few years earlier when he had accidentally stretched his left arm too far and too fast and had been forced to be still for a whole week while Chopper's experimental medicine slowly made his arm go back to its usual length again, he had started to pay just a little more attention to the distance of the things he wanted to reach.

Of course, he could reach so much longer now than he had been able to when he started his journey, and he hadn't been in a position where he needed to stretch beyond his limits in years. The habit of measuring the height of buildings and ships had simply stuck, and he usually didn't bother to pay any attention to the information his brain tried to send him.

Once he decided that the ship's railing wasn't out of his reach, he stretched out his arms towards the older pirate and grabbed hold of the wooden rail.

"Gomu Gomu no… Rocket!" he exclaimed, pulling himself from the floor and up in the air.

When Luffy flew through the air and landed on his feet on top of the railing, Krieg involuntarily took a step backwards. The armored pirate growled, but Luffy simply squatted and looked closely at him. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers.

"That's it!" he said, a slightly fanatic grin spreading over his face. "You're him! That Don… Bon - _whatever_ - Kregg! Wow, I completely forgot about you!"

Then, the grin on his face faded, almost as if he noticed that remembering his enemy didn't bring back any nice memories. Luffy shrugged lightly.

"Ah well, it doesn't matter," he said as he jumped down on the tilting main deck and raised his fists. "Let's go!"

– e – e –

The bright daylight pierced through the darkness that had briefly surrounded him, and Sanji reluctantly opened his eyes. He could feel someone shaking him lightly but roughly by the shoulder, and looked up. The sight of Zoro's face above his own almost caused the chef to groan loudly. It hadn't just been a really bad dream caused by bad nori or lack of sleep.

"Oi, cook. Are you dead yet?" Zoro muttered and shook Sanji by the shoulder again.

Sanji snorted feebly, but the searing wave of pain that flashed through him caused him to grimace a bit. His injuries seemed to have stopped hurting for a while, but when he returned to consciousness, so did the pain, and his body wasn't prepared for it. When his tensed body finally relaxed and the pain faded away a little, he sighed and managed to produce something that almost looked like a smile.

"Yeah, I think so. It figures that your ugly face would be the first thing I see in Hell."

As he finished speaking, it was like his lungs suddenly was twisted around themselves, and he broke out in a violent fit of coughing. He could feel one of Zoro's hands pressing against his chest in what appeared to be an attempt to ease the coughing, and he found that he for once in his life didn't feel the urge to kick the swordsman's stupid head off.

"The room is ready now," came a small voice above his head. "Get him in here."

When Sanji looked up, he found that the scruffy-looking raft-boat they were in was tied to the even more shabby-looking pirate ship named Meri Go. Above them by the ship's railing stood Chopper with two of Sanji's (now heavily bandaged) younger cooks, and halfway down a swaying rope ladder by the side of the ship was Usopp, who was gesturing for Zoro to hurry up.

As Zoro easily lifted him from the bottom of the boat and handed him to Usopp, who began climbing the rope ladder while holding a firm grip around the chef's body, Sanji gave up on struggling. He was fighting for each breath and barely noticed the pain in his ribs as he was pulled over the railing to the pirate ship by his cooks.

The cooks hurriedly grabbed hold of Sanji's arms and legs, and carried him into a room which Chopper pointed out to them. Usopp and Zoro followed them once they had climbed aboard the ship. Sanji could hear their footsteps as they entered the warm, stuffy cabin at the same level as the main deck. When he turned his throbbing head to look around, he caught a glimpse of thehelm's mechanismwhich ran right under the ceiling towards the stern. It seemed as if Usopp had wanted to keep the design of the ship he had loved so much.

The room was fairly large, but because of the many bookcases and shelves lined up along the walls, it seemed a bit cramped. In the middle of the room was a large table, which Sanji guessed was used for examinations and maybe even surgery. It was on this table the cooks placed him before they turned and headed out through the door.

Chopper darted between his bookshelves and the two large cabinets which were full of various ingredients and pre-made medicines before he turned to Sanji with a tray of different instruments in his hooves.

"Usopp, Zoro, can you hold him down for a moment?" he asked shyly, but still with a great amount of authority in his voice. "Just in case…"

The two men, who were standing by the door while speaking with hushed voices, responded to Chopper's request and walked across the room. Zoro placed his hands firmly on Sanji's shoulders while Usopp simply wrapped his arms around the chef's legs.

"Alright, Chopper," Usopp grunted, almost as if he already was struggling to keep Sanji still.

Once Chopper was convinced that Sanji wasn't able to move, he pulled up a tall chair and climbed up on it like he had done so many times before. He had placed the tray with his instruments on a small table right next to Sanji's head, but didn't pick up any of them. Instead, he leaned over his patient's face and brushed the blond hair to the side to be able to examine the damage done to Sanji's skull.

"Hmm…" Chopper poked carefully at Sanji's left cheek, which had started to swell and also turned a light shade of purplish blue. Sanji hissed quietly as the touch awakened the pain in his face.

"This is the second time I see you with this kind of injuries, Sanji," Chopper said with a scolding voice. "I can fix it, but if you keep getting this kind of fractures, I'm afraid that you'll have to go through some reconstructive surgery soon."

Sanji sighed. "But you can fix it?" he pointed out.

Chopper looked at him for a moment, and then he nodded powerlessly. Sanji managed to hold back a smile. He remembered when Chopper finally gave up about trying to keep the crew from straining themselves when they were injured. The poor reindeer had once been so worn out after trying to keep an eye on Zoro, Sanji, Luffy and Manti at the same time to keep them from working out, cooking, stretching and fighting, that he had slept for four days straight.

"Yes, I can fix it. If you promise that you'll take it easy."

"Don't I always take it easy?" Sanji joked tiredly as Chopper moved on to examining his broken ribs without replying. "Alright, I pro--"

He was unable to continue due to the fact that Chopper just had began his examination by pressing his hoof lightly against Sanji's side, which caused the chef's body to jerk involuntarily out of pain. Sanji could feel Usopp's grip around his legs tighten, and he forced himself to stay as still as possible, even with the flashes of pain still racing through him.

After about ten minutes of pain, Sanji was relieved to hear Chopper announce that he had finished the examination and that Usopp and Zoro could let go of the patient. When he felt the pressure of Zoro's hands against his shoulders and Usopp's grip around his legs loosen, Sanji reached out his hand and managed to grab hold of Usopp's wrist. The marksman jumped a little, but then he turned to look at Sanji, who did his best to keep his voice steady.

"Go to my restaurant and tell the chefs to take out all the meat from the freezers and cook it," he said, coughing a few times from the effort it took to speak properly. "Also tell them to keep the meat on the bone."

"Sure," Usopp smirked reassuringly, making a thumbs-up with his free hand. "Leave it to Captain Usopp!"

"I don't have much choice, do I?" Sanji managed a smile as Usopp turned around and walked out from the room, his brown cloak billowing behind him.

To his left, Chopper was tapping a very large needle with his hoof to get rid of all the bubbles in the clear liquid inside it.

"Zoro said that you passed out a few times in the boat," he said while eyeing the needle carefully and tapping it some more. "Therefore, I'm just going to give you enough sedatives to make the pain go away. I do not dare to make you fall asleep, since I don't know how severe your injuries are, and--"

"Chopper," Sanji interrupted tiredly. "I trust you, just get it over with so I can get back to my restaurant before Luffy finishes the fight."

The doctor hesitated for a moment, but nodded. Sanji tried not to wince as he felt the sting of the needle in his left arm, and soon, a soft haze surrounded him, taking away all the pain in his body. It felt like he was standing on the edge between sleep and wake, with thin rope of consciousness tied around his waist that kept him from slipping deeper into either state.

It would be nice to get some rest.

– e – e –

Luffy stumbled back, his head lolling lightly to the side as he tried to look down at his shoulder, where blood was slowly trickling from a small, circular wound just above the joint. He blinked in confusion. It didn't make sense, bullets weren't supposed to affect rubber!

When he had heard the gunshot and felt the bullet hit him in the shoulder, he had instinctively braced himself to be able to bounce back the projectile and then kick Krieg's ass. But when there had been pain instead of a stretching feeling in his shoulder, he had known that something was wrong.

His legs bent against his will, and he sank down on his knees on the main deck. The very familiar feeling of all his strength rushing out of his body flowed over him, but he couldn't understand why that happened. He would usually have related that feeling with falling into the water or with…

Looking down at his shoulder, he saw a glimpse of something dark beneath the blood in the shallow wound, and felt a mental jolt of recognition.

"Seastone…" he hissed, trying to raise his right hand to his shoulder. It proved to be harder than expected, since the Seastone seemed to have made his brain and the rest of his body stop working together.

Krieg laughed and raised his pistol again.

"Figured it out so soon?" he asked, aiming the gun directly at Luffy's face. "Yeh, these are Seastone bullets. Did ya think I would have conquered the Grand Line without a weapon that could affect the ones with the abilities of Devil's Fruits?"

"Why not?" Luffy asked in return, clutching his wounded shoulder with great effort. His arms were completely numb, and he found that he almost couldn't move a muscle. "We did just fine without that stuff, my nakama and I. True power isn't in the weapons you use. You're just a coward hiding behind the Seastone."

"Oh? Those are big words for someone in your position," Krieg cackled confidently and cocked back his pistol. The clicking sound rang in Luffy's lightly dazed mind, and he clutched his shoulder even firmer to keep himself from succumbing to the Seastone's power. He knew that he could be stronger than that stone, and he would prove it.

"If you don't believe me, I'll just have to prove it to you," he said. "That you need more than just weapons to have true power."

He was feeling dizzy, but still managed to keep himself upright as he focused on moving his fingers and to keep his eyes on the pirate in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he could feel his fingertips reach the edge of the wound, and the rush of pain that raced through his arm as he touched the flat side of the bullet.

There wasn't much strength left in his body, but he knew that he had to find enough to prove his point to the old man.

He took a deep breath and pressed his thumb and ring finger against the edges of the wound and pushing them together, at the same time he scratched at the side of the bullet with the nail of his index finger to try to pull the little thing out of his arm.

It didn't take long until he held the tiny metal fragment in the palm of his hand. The little blood-covered bullet burned his hand without leaving a single mark, but he still held it out towards Krieg, who seemed to have been stunned by Luffy's display of pure willpower.

"I- impossible…" Krieg stuttered, still keeping the pistol aimed at Luffy's head. "Seastone is supposed to immobilize people with abilities like yours!"

"It does," Luffy said, his hand shaking from the effort of holding it out in the air. He dropped the bullet onto the deck, where it landed with a short clinking sound and rolled out of sight. "I just decided not to let it do that."

Freed from the paralyzing power of the Seastone, Luffy jumped up from the deck with his fists raised. He was fed up with the pirate, who obviously didn't know the simplest thing about being a real pirate. Looking at Krieg, who was standing in front of him with the pistol still raised, Luffy didn't even hesitate as he lashed out at the pirate. Pulling back his arm, he took one step forward to steady himself.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" he called out as he thrust his arm forward. His fist crashed into Krieg's chest and threw the pirate backwards against the railing, but Luffy wasn't finished yet.

Leaping up in the air, he made a somersault and clapped the soles of his sandals together.

"Gomu Gomu no Spear!"

He stretched out his legs with incredible speed towards the pirate below him, and his feet hit their target with outmost precision.

Once his legs snapped back to their original positions, he landed softly on the floor and turned to Krieg, who had stumbled away from him. A bullet whistled past his ear just as he turned around, and he frowned.

"I don't like being shot," he said coolly. "It startles me."

He pulled back his left leg and kicked it forward, directly at Krieg.

"Gomu Gomu no Stamp!"

His foot hit Krieg straight in the face, leaving a lined imprint of the sole of his sandal. Krieg cried out in pain and stumbled back, covering his bleeding nose with his pistol-free hand. Luffy pulled back and let his arms fall to his sides.

"Are you going to go away and leave Sanji alone?" he asked. "I'm not interested in fighting you anymore."

"This is the second time you've fought for that little busboy, isn't it?" Krieg said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Why do you even bother?"

"He's my nakama," Luffy replied calmly. "And this is the second time you've fought me because of him. Don't you get it? You can't beat me."

Luffy stepped aside just as Krieg raised his pistol and fired at him once again. He took a step forward, punching the air in front of him with increasing speed until he created a storm of flying fists aimed directly at Krieg.

"Gomu Gomu no Gattling Gun!"

Krieg was thrown back against the portside railing by the force of the attack. As Luffy's arms returned to their normal length, he stretched them out again and grabbed hold of the railing on both sides of Krieg.

"… and…" he said, now grinning widely.

Pulling himself forward, he curled up and held out his feet in front of him as he was rocketed across the deck.

"Rocket Launcher!"

He shot out his legs once he reached the older pirate, and his feet hit Krieg directly in the chest, cracking the already damaged armor in two as he sent him flying straight through the railing and away from the ship.

When Luffy felt that his arms and legs were back to their usual lengths, he jumped up on the railing and watched Krieg land in the water with a neutral expression on his face. When he saw some of Krieg's men swimming towards the place where the pirate had hit the water, Luffy turned away and jumped down from the railing.

"I'm hungry…" he muttered, patting his now growling stomach. "I hope Sanji is better now…"

By the horizon, he could see a small vessel moving in the direction of the restaurant. Once the boat came closer, Luffy recognized his elder brother and started waving and calling for him. Getting Ace to give him a lift would definitely be more fun than to try to find his raft among all the remains of the Fin and the battleship.

He was really getting hungry…

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_Err... Okay, if you didn't think this chapter was crappy, please let me know, because I'm not sure about that myself. False modesty aside, I'm not happy with parts of this chapter, but I've tried to make it better to the point to where it will get worse if I were to change or add any more. Anyway, I'll stop now._

_Once again, thank you so much for the reviews. It's so much fun to know that people are reading this._

**FieryKitsune** - Ha ha, yeah... I love torturing Sanji. Nah, it's fun to torture characters you love, because you can put so much emotion in the torture...

**chibified kitsunes** - Glad to see that you like it. However, I don't really care about the spelling of Zoro's name. His name comes from a real pirate by the name L'ollonais, so I spell it with L...

**Namibean** - I'm always happy to see your reviews. You could imagine the action scenes? I really like to hear that. I think you're one of the few who actually waits patiently... -pokes reviews telling her to update quickly- Heh...

**Anna Sparrow** - It brought tears to your eyes? -mimics Chopper- Shut up... It's not that good. Bakayaro... But still, my ego liked that. I hope that you won't be disappointed by the end of this story later.

**Darkday Chaos** - Anything for the sake... if you share...

**Mavado** - I changed the bounties and the origin of Meri Go. However, I won't change that they used the Going Merry up til the point where the crew was disbanded. I do agree with you that future-fics usually have all the faults you pointed out. I'm not really a fan of this kind of stories myself actually.But I'm not going to make up some excuse for writing, not only one but three such stories now, all of them in which I've included Merry.

However, I am a huge fan of the Going Merry and until I know what kind of ship they will get after Merry, I'll continue to write about her. I am fully aware of Merry's situation -even before I read past the Skypiea arc (where the Swedish translators got Uranotopia fromis still puzzling meo.o; ) -but it doesn't change anything. With an author like Oda, you never know what awaits around the corner...

Anyway, I have to say that your review hurt to read, and I actually lost some sleep over it. But it was good, and I really appreciate your honesty. Because, frankly, we all need to hear these things, and it really was good to hear some brutal honesty among the praise. Ha ha, keep up the good work, Mavado!

**Jade Tatsu** - Actually (since I changed Krieg's bounty a little bit), Krieg reached quite far in the Grand Line. After going up the Reverse Mountain (only his new, large battleship survived after his newly assembled fleet got stuck and was destroyed halfway up the mountain) and into the Grand Line, he didn't take the same route as the Straw Hats, but travelled through the stormy first part of the Grand Line (and lost ten of his men) until he reached a spring island named Dokina.

Unfortunately, because of a recent sighting of the notorious Captain Kuro near the island, Marines were swarming the area, and Krieg's ship was soon spotted and pursuit followed. Thanks to a violent thunderstorm just outside the next island, the winter island Kristal, the pirates finally escaped from the Marines.

On this island, the now (once again) starving Krieg Pirates finally got a chance to stock up on food and water in a town which welcomed them with open arms. They didn't suspect that while they were partying in the local tavern, some of the townspeople snuck aboard their ship and stole all the treasure in the captain's cabin. Not until after they had set sail did Krieg notice the missing treasure. But since Don Krieg is such a kind spirit, he only fired four rounds of cannonballs at the town before setting off towards the next island...

They did survive in there for a few years, travelling quite slowly between the islands, but once they came closer to the Red Line at the middle of the Grand Line, Krieg decided to take his chances with the Sea Kings in the Calm Belt instead of continuing. But his adventures in there will be another story... :D

**Digitaldreamer **- It's finally here! I sat up until three last night and finished writing this chapter, which could explain the crappiness of some parts of it. Anyway, I'm glad that you like this story. I'm also a bit disappointed that Zoro didn't get to lose any blood (except maybe a small insignificant nosebleed after Pearl's Present-attack), but hey, there's always another fic, right?

**Straw Hat Pirate Fan** - I like that signature... I don't know about Smoker or Hina, but Coby and Helmeppo will at least be mentioned in this story. However, I can't see any of the Straw Hats becoming a Shichibukai. Zoro states in the Davy Back Fight Arc that if he's not in the Straw Hat Clan, he has no reason to be a pirate (Note: in this story, because he defeated Mihawk in battle, he could hardly return to being a part-time bounty hunter and therefore had to resort to travel around, defeating aspiring swordsmen and making them pay for his food.) and therefore, I do have my doubts about him taking Mihawks' position.

**Pisces** - Respect for the characters? Well, I try. I don't want to become an author who sends the characters into OOC-ness...

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_

_... Um. There was one more thing I was going to say before I let you go and do something more important, like sorting your socks in alphabetic order. I don't think I've ever written such long replies to reviews before, I'm impressed..._

_Right, next chapter will be the last chapter. I have some ideas for it that hopefully will make it better than this chapter. After this story is finished, I don't know what else to write. I will try to finish rewriting Imprisoned, since I really want to get that done. _

_Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm off to bed now so that I can wake up before my sister goes to catch her plane in the morning. Good night!_

_Also, what's up with the QuickEditcreating run-on's anyway? I find it so annoying._


	9. Departure

_Damn, this is the longest chapter I've ever written... When I finally realized that it was 28 pages long, I was going to look for a place to cut it into two shorter chapters. However, I couldn't find a suiting place, so I thought "To Hell with it, people like long chapters... I think." and went to bed. So, here it is. Enjoy this long chapter now, I worked my ass off to write it ;D_

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The eastern ocean lay almost perfectly still as the sun slowly moved across the sky on its daily trip towards the horizon. It was still long before sundown, but even Mother Sea herself seemed to have fallen silent to make up for all the noise she had been forced to put up with earlier. The large battleship, which had been the cause of most of the noise with the many explosions traveling between the rooms inside it, had finally sunk beneath the waves, leaving only a light shadow in the clear water as it continued towards its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean. In a few years, no one would even remember it, and its treasures would be lost forever. A few planks floating on the surface among the shattered pieces of a wooden terrace were the only things still left at the place the pirates had selected as their battleground.

It was those pieces of wood that took up most of Luffy's attention where he sat cross-legged on the railing outside the entrance to Sanji's restaurant. He wasn't completely sure why he was sitting there, watching the wood bobbing on the small waves, but it felt right to do it, so he didn't move from his spot on the railing, even if he really, really wanted to get up and see what the others were doing. From time to time, his eyes wandered off towards the really interesting-looking ship which was moored to the side of the larger restaurant, but it wasn't just out of pure boredom.

He didn't know why, but he liked that ship a lot. Ever since he had seen her the first time, he had known that there was something special about her, and it wasn't just that she looked like a jigsaw puzzle from which one piece was missing or that her figure-head wasn't carved out yet or that she was flying Usopp's pirate flag with the long-nosed, bandana-clad skull over a slingshot and a paintbrush. The ship's appearance didn't really matter, as long as she had a strong spirit, just like Merry. It was almost as if she spoke to him, just like the Going Merry had spoken to him sometimes during his lonely night-watches over the years.

Luffy wondered if the rest of his nakama had been able to hear their ship speaking to them. He had never brought it up while they were together as a crew, since he was afraid that the others would ask what the ship had told him. The things Merry told him was supposed to be for his ears only - she had told him that herself - so he kept quiet, even though it had been hard sometimes.

It had been hard for him to keep all those truths and secrets to himself, but every time he had been about to reveal something, he had stopped and reminded himself that as long as Merry wasn't telling the rest of the crew what he had told her, he wasn't going to tell anyone about what she had told him.

Luffy had known that the Going Merry had died long before Usopp told him. Seven months earlier, he had been working at a construction site to pay off something he had destroyed (he couldn't remember what he had destroyed, but it had been really expensive and since he always had almost no money at all, the nice villagers had made him choose between working to pay for it or being turned in to the Marines) when he had felt almost as if something had been ripped out of his body.

The very painful feeling had thrown him to the ground and when it faded a few seconds later, he knew that something had happened to Merry. He hadn't been able to explain how he could have known that it was Merry and no one else, and he didn't want to know either. Merry was dead, and he had been able to feel it. That was all that mattered.

The joyful sound of Ace's laughter reached Luffy's ears, and he turned his eyes away from the ship to look over his shoulder towards the entrance to the restaurant. Ace had entered the ship as soon as the brothers reached up to it, and was probably sitting by a table while talking and laughing together with Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Robin. Luffy, on the other hand, had stayed outside.

One part of him had wanted to go inside and talk to the others, but the other part wanted to wait for the rest of his nakama to come before he went inside. So he had climbed up on the railing and sat down to watch the remains of the wooden Fin on which Sanji, Zoro and Usopp had fought Kre-… Kru-… _that pirate's_ nakama and protected Sanji's treasure.

Luffy reached up and poked at the white patch of cloth that was taped to his left shoulder. He knew that he wasn't supposed to touch it until the wound underneath the patch had healed, but it was so hard to resist. The wound knew that he wasn't supposed to touch it as well, and it teased him by throbbing and stinging and itching and obviously doing everything but healing faster, just to annoy him. Turning his head towards the pieces of wood floating on the waves, he decided to ignore the wound.

He could remember a few rare times when the others - and especially Zoro - really hadn't been in the mood to play with him or even talk to him, and had chosen to ignore Luffy, no matter what he did or which tone of voice he used, until Luffy finally decided to give up and tried to find something else to do. So Luffy figured that if he ignored the wound for long enough, it would soon give up and start to heal so that he didn't have to keep himself from poking at it.

Damn pirate and his damn Seastone bullet…

There was a sudden movement behind him, and he turned around, his body instinctively taking a fighting-stance as his thoughts still lingered on the stupid pirate he had fought earlier. He soon relaxed, however, when he noticed that the one coming out from the restaurant was Nami, who was holding his hat in her hands. She shook her head and sighed at his reaction, but then she smiled and walked up next to him by the railing.

"Aren't you going to come inside?" she asked and pressed the hat over his black hair. "Zoro probably wants to know how you managed to find him here."

Luffy shrugged and reached up to move the hat to a more comfortable place on his head. "No, he doesn't," he said, smiling as he gave his treasure a friendly pat to welcome it back to him. "Zoro knows that I just felt that he was here. I felt that all of you were here. You know that too, don't you, Nami?" he added and looked at her questioningly with his wide eyes.

When Nami didn't reply, Luffy took that as a 'yes' and turned his eyes back towards the wooden planks floating in the glittering water. In the corner of his eye, he could see Nami lean against the railing next to him.

"When is Sanji coming back?" he said after a little while.

Nami nodded towards the interesting-looking ship. "Chopper is patching him up in there. When he came back with the children, Usopp told us that Sanji-kun was hurt pretty badly. But he also said that it's nothing he hasn't already gone through before."

She straightened her back and stretched lightly before she turned to walk back inside the restaurant. When she reached the open doors, she turned back to look at Luffy.

"I heard that the chefs are preparing tons of meat for you," she said with a soft voice.

"It's okay, I'm not hungry," Luffy said without turning around, but it took a lot of willpower just to say it; his voice wasn't completely steady when he said it either. Then, a very familiar sound was heard and Nami sighed lightly while shaking her head.

"I can hear your stomach growling from over here, Luffy," she stated, and was just about to try to convince him that it was okay to come inside and wait for Sanji and Chopper when Luffy spoke.

"Nami? Do you think it's still there?" he wondered with a voice that was just as calm as the surrounding water. "One Piece. Do you think it's still at the island where we left it?"

Nami smiled. At first, she had been against the captain's decision to leave the legendary treasure on the island where they finally had found it, and she remembered that she had been very upset about having to leave such an amount of riches behind. But Luffy had got what he needed to prove that he had found it. The word of a Marine admiral and an ornamented golden goblet with Gold Roger's mark engraved on it had been enough to spread the news all over the world.

"Do you want to go and see if it's still there?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest.

Luffy didn't reply. He simply flashed one of his trademark grins and swung his legs over the railing. Patting his still growling stomach, he let Nami know that he in fact was a bit hungry and followed her into the restaurant.

When he entered, he immediately felt everyone's eyes on him. It was something he was used to, but he still couldn't keep the wide grin off his face as he looked around on the few guests who were inside the restaurant. He thought he could remember seeing a large group of ships leaving the restaurant in a hurry, but that was before he had been hit by the cannonball, and he wondered if they were coming back to finish their meals, since there were still plates with half-eaten or even untouched food on some of the tables. Just the sight of the food made Luffy's stomach give up a loud howl to point out how empty it was.

As if on cue, the silver doors at the other end of the hall were opened and a group of four men in white aprons came out with large trays in their hands, which they carried through the room up to the table near the entrance where Zoro, Robin and Usopp were sitting. Once the delicious smell of the meat reached Luffy, he could no longer restrain himself, and he bounced over to the table and sat down at the head of the table, ready to devour practically everything that came within his reach.

In fact, he barely had the time to notice that his brother wasn't sitting by the table as he had expected. But he figured that Ace had found someone interesting to talk to, and didn't think more of that. He would have time to talk to Ace another time, when there wasn't a mountain of delicious meat in front of him.

– e – e –

When his third attempt to pull it on failed, Sanji dropped his shirt onto the table and turned to Chopper with a pleading look on his bandaged face.

"Don't you think it's a little too much, Chopper?" he asked, spreading out his bandage-covered arms to stress his point. "With all these bandages, I mean."

Chopper turned around from where he was standing on top of a large three-legged stool in front one of his large cabinets and looked at Sanji. The boxes of medicine he had taken from the shelf in front of him wobbled a little as the reindeer moved.

"What do you mean by that?" Chopper asked with a genuinely confused expression on his face.

"What the hell do you mean 'what do I mean by that'?" Sanji asked in return, not quite able to hide his frustration. When the words left his mouth, he felt a bit regretful; Chopper was known for his habit to completely wrap his patients in bandages if he got the chance. He sighed and tugged at the thick layers of bandages covering most of his upper body before he continued, a little less aggressively: "I look like the damn swordsman in a mummy-costume, and I can't even put my shirt on. That's what I mean by that. So won't you _please_ remove some of it?"

Chopper looked at him, and Sanji returned the gaze until the reindeer smiled embarrassedly and put down the boxes of medicine on the shelf in front of him before he jumped down from the tall stool. Sanji waited as patiently as he could as Chopper climbed up on the wooden table and started to remove most of the bandages from his body.

"I'm sorry," Chopper said as he rolled up the bandages and tossed the rolls into a basket on the floor. "But I thought that this would be the best way to keep you from exert yourself before your injuries gets the chance to heal."

"You've tried that once before, Chopper," Sanji said calmly as he felt the pressure against the skin on his right arm easing with every layer of bandage that was removed. "It didn't work back then either."

Chopper simply muttered as a reply and tugged at Sanji's left arm to make him turn around a little so that he could reach the safety pin that held the topmost layer of bandages together. Sanji looked at the growing pile of bandage rolls in the basket on the floor, and wondered where Chopper could possibly be keeping all of it. From the looks of it, Chopper had to have an enormous stash of bandages hidden somewhere, especially when considering how heavily wrapped in the white cloth his chefs had been.

Once Chopper had removed all the bandages except for the last two layers that were wrapped tightly around Sanji's ribs to support the fractures and keep them from separating again, he made sure that the bullet wound on the chef's shoulder hadn't started to bleed again. After that, Sanji reached for his shirt and put it on while he smiled appreciatively at Chopper, who hesitated before he returned the smile.

"Thank you, Chopper. And don't worry," Sanji said as he hung his suit jacket over his arm and turned for the door. "I'll take it as easy as I can this time. Are you coming inside?"

"Yes, I'll just have to put these things where they should be. I'll catch up with you." The reindeer moved to lift up the basket with the rolls of bandages but turned to Sanji again. "And no smoking, Sanji. You nearly got both of your lungs punctured back there, so I don't want to catch you smoking already."

Sanji looked down at the cigarette he just had pulled out and stuffed it back into the pack in his inner pocket with a smirk. Chopper knew him too damn well, that was for sure.

"Fine, if that's what the doctor ordinates," he said with a light smile as he walked out from the cabin.

He knew - and he knew that Chopper knew it as well - that the first signs of withdrawal would start a few hours later, whether he liked it or not. But he thought it best to follow Chopper's order, since he _was_ a doctor who only wanted what was best for his patients. At least until the withdrawal got too bad, because at that point, not even Chopper with his ten forms (he had told Sanji and Zoro about how he had discovered three new forms while he carefully patched up Sanji's broken ribs and face, accompanied by Usopp, who gladly told the stories about Chopper's discoveries) could keep him from doing what he wanted.

When Sanji walked out on Meri Go's main deck, he squinted in the strong sunlight. It had felt as if he had been inside the cabin for hours, but the sun was still high in the sky, and judging by the sounds coming from inside the restaurant, the chefs had just served Luffy his meat.

He heard the splashing sound of ships breaking through water and turned to his left, where he spotted the guests who had left the restaurant before the pirates attacked. It was a great relief to him that the guests hadn't been scared away, not only because the Sagatie's reputation would be severely damaged if someone started talking about the dangerous pirates hanging out there, but because he really didn't want his guests to have the memory of Don Krieg's attack as the only thing they took with them when they left the restaurant.

Walking up next to the figure head of the Meri Go, Sanji jumped down to his restaurant and landed almost as softly as a cat on the terrace. He could feel the bullet wound in his leg protesting quite violently at the impact, but he didn't bother to think about it. It was just a wound like any other, and he didn't want his guests to think that he was hurt worse than he really was. Raising his right hand, he signaled to the ships that it was safe to return and watched them close up on the restaurant.

Once the ships started docking by the terrace, Sanji walked into the restaurant to make sure that the guests wouldn't be met by too much of a mess when they entered the dining hall. He was a bit surprised to see that everything seemed to be in order, and he nodded in greeting as a few of his chefs looked his way.

At a large table on near the entrance Sanji had come through sat the three couples who had stayed aboard the restaurant during the attack. When they spotted Sanji, they all got up and walked up to him to shake his hand. Sanji assured them that they really shouldn't be thanking him, since he hadn't done much to protect them or the restaurant.

"I hope that your children were returned safe and sound," he said, casting a quick glance towards the table on the other side of the room, where his nakama had gathered.

"Oh, yes, thank you," one of the women said, her flushed cheeks taking the same shade as her hair. "They said that they had been having a lot of fun with the pirates."

"I'm glad to hear that," Sanji said, his smile obscured by the bandages covering the left side of his face. "If you excuse me, I need to speak with my staff before the rest of the guests come in."

He nodded and walked away from the guests, headed towards the chefs who were standing near the kitchen. But before he reached even halfway through the room, he could hear the sound of people muttering something about pirates and turned around.

A large crowd of people were standing in the doorway to the restaurant, nervously looking towards the table where Luffy and the rest of the former Straw Hat pirates were sitting. Sanji watched them for a brief moment, and was just about to walk up to the guests and try to convince them that the Pirate King wasn't going to harm anyone, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Why are you standing there like a bunch of scarecrows on a field?" Usopp asked and winked at Sanji as he walked past him.

"Who are you?" One of the guests demanded to know. Usopp didn't let himself get intimidated by the large crowd, but bowed deeply in front of the guests.

"Captain Usopp, at your service. I see that you've noticed that guy in the straw hat over there, but you don't have to worry about him."

"Why? You mean it isn't the Pirate King?" asked another guest.

"What? Oh. No, of course it's him. What I mean is that I've already made him promise not to cause any trouble here today. You see, all the pirates in the world fear Captain Usopp. Even the King of Pirates thinks twice before messing with me. I could tell you about the time I saved him from the cannibalistic Zumbaya Warriors far in the Grand Line…"

Usopp broke off and looked thoughtful for a moment, before he shrugged lightly and turned around towards Sanji. "But I guess you don't want to hear that, since you're too busy doubting the word of Captain Usopp."

At this point, the guests seemed to be more afraid of Usopp than of Luffy, so Sanji stepped forward, giving Usopp a light push towards the other pirates as he walked past him and muttered "Go tell the story to the kids instead, I think they'll appreciate it" under his breath.

Once Usopp turned away and walked back to the pirates and the children, who quickly gathered around him, begging to hear another story, Sanji turned to the guests who were standing in the doorway and nodded instead of bowing due to the sudden flashes of pain spreading from his chest.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please have patience with him," he said calmly, hoping that the painkillers Chopper had forced him to take would start to take effect soon. "None of the pirates here is a threat to you, and I will personally take responsibility for them, if that will make you feel more comfortable."

His words calmed the guests, and he was relieved to see their faces lose the tense and nervous expressions as they entered the restaurant to take their seats again. Sanji sighed with relief and ran his fingers through his hair as he made his way towards the kitchen. Now the stress was coming back again, and he almost wished that he could split himself in two, so that he could take care of everything he had to take care of.

"Sanji! Seconds please!"

Raising his hand to show Luffy that he had heard him, Sanji headed towards the kitchen. He needed to cook something to get his mind off everything else.

– e – e –

"… And believe it or not, as I watched them from my hiding place, the Zumbaya Warriors were actually getting ready to boil the poor sailors in this _huge_ cauldron over an open fire…"

Luffy leaned back in his chair, absentmindedly chewing on a splinter of a bone as he listened to Usopp's story. He glanced over towards the large silver doors at the end of the room where he had seen Sanji disappear, hoping to see his cook coming out again with more meat for him. No, not _his_ cook, he reminded himself, cupping his hands behind his head. Sanji was his own cook now, and Luffy had to try to remember that.

"… and the Chief of the Warriors looked down at me where I was on the ground, still stunned from the paralyzing dart that had hit me. He pointed at me with his spear and said…"

Luffy suppressed a sigh. He really wished that he could listen to Usopp's story, because it sounded really interesting, but there was something that he needed to do before he could settle down properly.

"I want to go back to the Grand Line," he said, looking around the table at his nakama and meeting their eyes before he turned to his first mate. "Zoro, you're coming with me, right?"

"Yeah," Zoro said simply, stifling a yawn as he met Luffy's gaze.

"Huh?" Nami put down her Tact on the table and looked towards Zoro. "So you're going to be a pirate again, then?"

"Again? I never claimed to have stopped being a pirate," Zoro countered as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "I've always said, 'if I'm not in this clan, I have no reason to be a pirate', but with the bounty on my head, I can't just walk around like a normal person, now can I?"

"With hair like that, I'm amazed that you've ever managed to pass as a normal person," Usopp chipped in, grinning at Zoro before he continued with his story. "And speaking of people with weird hair, the strongest Warrior that I mentioned before - the one who the Chief had ordered to finish me off - his hairdo was definitely one of the most strange I've ever seen. He looked like…"

"I should be the one to say that to you and that nose of yours, Usopp," Zoro replied calmly, but his furrowed brow revealed the level of his irritation aimed towards the marksman. However, Usopp wasn't affected by the words. As Luffy watched his sharpshooter, he wasn't entirely sure that Usopp even had heard Zoro at all. Luffy grinned and turned to look at Nami and Robin, who both had put down what they had been reading and were watching the scene played up in front of them.

"What about you two then?" he asked cheerfully. "Wanna go to the Grand Line again?"

"That would be fun," Nami admitted, and glanced at Robin. "But we have some business to take care of here in East Blue first… Right, Robin?"

Robin turned her eyes away from the group of laughing children and looked at Luffy. She adjusted the bookmark at the end of her book and put it down on a fairly clean spot on the table.

"Not quite," she said softly and smiled. "The man I talked to before the pirate incident today had heard of the 'stone cube' in northern East Blue. It turns out that it is not one of the Poneglyphs, after all."

"Yosh," Luffy said, punching the air above his head. "Then you can come to the Grand Line with me!"

As Nami and Robin agreed to come along, Luffy turned around to look towards the silver doors again. This time, he saw Sanji emerging with two large trays loaded with desserts in his hands, and Luffy's mouth watered at once. A little snack while he waited for his meat wouldn't hurt… Would it?

– e – e –

Sanji walked out from the kitchen balancing two trays loaded with desserts in his hands. Close behind him, two of his waiters emerged carrying trays with meat towards the pirates' table. He felt surprisingly cheerful, even as he had started to get annoyed over the fact that he had trouble seeing properly because of the tight bandages that were wrapped around most of his face to keep the broken bones in place until they had the chance to heal. The chef knew that he was supposed to be resting, but while he had been in the kitchen, he had started to feel that he needed to be the one apologizing to the guests for the inconvenience of the pirate attack.

As a hand stretched across the room towards the food, Sanji ducked as quickly as his still throbbing ribs allowed him to and he glared towards the appendage's owner.

"Cut it out, Luffy," he said, catching the innocent-looking gaze in the younger man's eyes as he pointed to the tray he balanced on his head. "You'll get your dessert once you finish your dinner."

Luffy shrugged, drew back his arm almost obediently and turned his gaze towards the waiters carrying the meat towards the table. Sanji smirked and continued towards a table in the far corner of the room, where the placed out seven of the desserts in front of the guests.

"Please accept this," he said politely, smiling at the two girls sitting next to the large, bearded man. "I'm really sorry for the pirate incident. All the food you've had today is on the house, so don't worry about that."

"A ha ha, you're the one who shouldn't worry, young man," replied Mister Mange-Tout and patted Sanji lightly on his bandaged left shoulder. Sanji grimaced a little from the light pain that still lingered in his shoulder while Mister Mange-Tout continued, "I said before that I've never been to a restaurant where pirates entertain the guests, didn't I? Well, I have to say that I've never been saved from other pirates by pirates either. I was very impressed to learn about how these pirates aided you and your staff in the fight. And on top of that, the food and service here is first-class."

He reached inside the inner pocket of his suit jacket and withdrew a pen and a thin folder with papers, which he placed next to his plate on the table.

"I have no other choice but to give you your five stars," he said with a smile as he first made some notes on the first paper and then signed all the pages with his name.

Sanji didn't know what to say. He had, without bragging, known that he was the owner of a world-class restaurant, but he would never have expected to receive five stars within the first year of business.

Mister Mange-Tout laughed his bellowing laugh and slammed his open hand against the table, which made several of the guests turn around towards them.

"A ha ha haaa, look at him, he's speechless! Now, now, my young fellow, don't let us keep you. I see that you have other things to do. We'll discuss the matter of stars later."

Sanji's eyes were drawn to the second tray with desserts that he was still balancing in his right hand, and he smiled politely. He was still a little shocked from hearing the good news.

"Yes," he managed to say once he found his voice again. "Thank you. Enjoy your meal now, and don't hesitate to call if you need anything."

He continued to walk through the room, talking to the guests and serving desserts until he reached up to the table below the stairs, where the woman who had been complaining about basically everything during the day (but since she had returned to the restaurant after Krieg had left, Sanji had the feeling that her comments were just empty words) was sitting together with her older male companion. Placing the last two bowls of fruit salad in front of the couple, he bowed gently out of habit and was for the first time that day thankful for the tight bandages covering most of his upper body under the blue shirt. He managed, however, to keep a straight face and apologized for all the trouble the pirate-attack had caused and explained to the guests that none of the guests would be charged a single Belli for their food.

The pink-haired woman looked at him for a moment before she nodded just as stiffly as he just had bowed.

"I would have refused to pay even if you had asked me to," she said curtly, but Sanji was convinced that he saw a light smile flicker over her pursed lips. "Especially not after that horrible incident. As if one gang of pirates wasn't enough…"

She sighed. "But I suppose we should thank the ones who protected us. So, thank you…"

Sanji smiled and bowed again, mentally kicking himself for doing so.

"I'll make sure to tell everyone who was involved, mademoiselle," he said softly. "Please enjoy the rest of your stay here at the Sagatie. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything."

There was a sudden flash of orange light coming from a table to Sanji's right, and many of the guests gave weak cries of surprise. Sanji looked up just in time to see Ace extinguishing a flame which had attached itself to one of the beams in the high ceiling by making a gesture with his hand and so making the fire soar down towards him and melting together with his arm to the guests' great amusement. Ace caught Sanji's eyes and bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry," he said with a light grin. "I guess I'm still a little bit fired up and forgot to hold back."

"No worries, Ace," Sanji said calmly. He felt like nothing in the world could upset him, but it could of course be the painkillers Chopper had given him that finally had started to take effect. "You seem to have that under control now, anyway."

He still couldn't help but wonder what could have happened to Kaji, that cocky little pirate rookie and nakama-murderer whom Ace had taken with him away from the restaurant earlier. The kid hadn't followed Ace back to the restaurant, and the fire-powered pirate had refused to say anything about what had happened when he had got the question. Sanji knew that Whitebeard had had the policy that if someone in his pirate clan was killed or hurt in any way, the one responsible would be hunted down and punished in the same fashion, and the chef wondered if Ace used the same ways.

Shrugging lightly (and immediately cursing himself for doing so as his healing shoulder and patched-up ribs all gave a stinging throb at once), Sanji walked across the room towards the table where his nakama were sitting. On the way, he put away the two now empty trays on an unoccupied table.

The only ones who were still eating their dinner were Luffy who just had received what had to be his third or fourth serving, and Zoro and Chopper, who had been able to fend off Luffy's attempts to steal their food. Chopper seemed to be about to choke on his food in his attempt to mimic Luffy's eating technique. Nami was leaning her elbows against the table while she was examining her newly repaired Clima Tacts and reading a small note which seemed to be some kind of instructions. To her right, Robin was once again reading her book, and Sanji could see that she had already reached the last chapters during her stay at the restaurant.

A few steps away from the table, almost right in front of the starboard entrance, surrounded by a group of children and some of the other guests, Usopp was right in the middle of telling them all about his part in the previous fight.

"… so I jumped down from my ship while I pulled out my gun, like this--" He moved his hand to his side, and made the impression of withdrawing an invisible gun from his sash. "-- and then I aimed it directly at the pirate's head and said, 'Bet your life on it…' Of course, he was scared stiff, so it was easy for Sanji to take him out. I could have done it myself at any time, but I didn't want to take all the credit for the save…"

Zoro put down his fork on his plate without putting the food impaled on it in his mouth.

"Usopp, give it a rest," he said irritably. "You've told that story three times already, and--"

He didn't get the time to finish the sentence as Sanji swiftly picked up the fork and stuffed the food into the swordsman's mouth while he walked by on his way to aid the poor choking reindeer.

"Let the kid enjoy himself," he snapped, reaching out to pour a glass of water for Chopper. "The guests all love his stories, so why don't you cut him some slack?"

Zoro choked on the food which was forced into his mouth, but when he finally managed to swallow it, he glared at Sanji.

"What the hell, you idiot?" he roared, making some of the guests turn around to see what was going on. "What are you trying to do? Choke me to death with your damn cooking?"

"You just need to learn how to chew your food, you noisy bastard," Sanji replied and leaned back as Zoro aimed a punch to his face. He had no intention to risk having his broken cheekbone dislocated again - he already looked like some kind of mummified imitation of himself with the cast and bandages covering the left side of his face. He was interrupted just as he was about to deliver another insult to Zoro's enraged face, by the clatter of plates being stacked on top of each other and a voice saying "Seconds, please!" closely followed by a tinier, coughing voice mimicking the first.

"Don't you mean 'fifths', Luffy?" Zoro said and reached out to thump Chopper in the back to ease the coughing. "Jeez, I thought I told you that you still don't have to copy him like that, Chopper…"

"What?" Chopper said with a cough, almost as if it was the first time anyone had ever told him that. "Really? Oi, Luffy, that's my glass!"

The little reindeer seemed to have forgotten all about choking as his glass which was still filled with some of the water Sanji had poured for him ended up in Luffy's hand. Chopper jumped up and tried to take his glass back, but it was too late. Luffy had emptied the whole jug in one gulp. Then he wiped his mouth with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Aah… Sanji, I want more food!"

Sanji nodded. "I know. I've told my chefs to cook all the meat in the restaurant for you. They're working on it as we speak."

Luffy pouted a little as he looked up at Sanji from under the brim of his hat. "But I want to eat your food," he whined in that extra whining voice which Sanji found that he had missed too much to get annoyed over.

"They're using my recipes," he tried to explain. "Besides, Chopper told me that I can't work until I've healed a little bit."

There was a short moment of silence in which all the pirates around the table looked at him.

"Since when do you listen to what Chopper says?" Usopp finally wondered, breaking the silence. "And, weren't you coming out of the kitchen just now?"

Sanji cast a quick glance at Chopper, who looked back at him with a questioning look on his silver-stained face. The chef smiled.

"Good point," he said and leaned over the table to pick up on of the tall stacks of empty plates. "Does anyone else want anything? Nami-san, Robin-chan, can I get you something?"

Nami and Robin both declined and returned to their reading, but there was a loud choir of voices crying "_Desserts!_" followed by some sort of war dance performed around Usopp, who stood there like a living totem pole while the six children he had brought aboard his ship were circling around him. Sanji rolled his eyes, but kept a smile on his face. He hadn't forgotten that he had promised them desserts after dinner, but the battle against the annoying shitheads had sort of taken his mind off cooking for a few minutes.

"Hai, hai," Sanji said, leaning his chin lightly against a somewhat clean spot on the topmost plate in the stack he held in his hands to keep it from wobbling too much as he started walking away from the table. He could feel Chopper's disapproving gaze burning a hole in his neck, but he didn't turn around to return it. "Calm down, I'll be right back."

When he walked into the kitchen, he barely avoided tripping over his three apprentices, who were standing just inside the silver doors. Stumbling back, he could see the image of the plates falling to the floor before his eyes just as he regained his balance again.

"What the--?" he broke off and steadied himself and the plates in his arms while glaring at the three boys in front of him. "Aren't you three supposed to be doing your chores?"

One of the cyan-haired twins seemed to gather his courage before he spoke.

"Is… Is that really the King of Pirates our there?"

Sanji sighed and adjusted the stack of plates in his arms. His wounded left shoulder had started throbbing a little again, despite the fuzzy feeling the painkillers were giving him. He pushed one of the doors open so that the pirates' table came into view and nodded towards Luffy.

"Yeah, he's the one with the straw hat."

"He doesn't look like a king to me," said the green-haired boy with a frown.

"No, I guess he doesn't," Sanji said simply, moving away from the apprentices. He turned to look over his shoulder at them, his brow somewhat furrowed in irritation. "If you're taking a break, stay in the kitchen or go out there and talk to the pirates. You're going to be in the way if you just stand there."

He could hear the boys hesitate for a moment, but by the time Sanji had put down the stack of plates on a counter in the kitchen, the boys were nowhere to be found. Sanji smiled lightly to himself, almost startling himself by feeling so cheerful all of a sudden.

It was almost as if there had never been a dull pain growing inside his chest, like a black hole eating its way through him and devouring every bit of happiness he had left. In fact, he had already started to forget what it had felt like.

– e – e –

The three apprentices looked at each other and cast quick glances at the Owner. He couldn't possibly have meant that they could just go out there and talk to _pirates_? Especially not the King of Pirates! The few times the boys had seen pirates up-close, they had always been only seconds from getting killed by them.

Then, the green-haired boy straightened up and looked determinedly at the silver doors in front of him. Just as he was about to push the doors open, he felt someone tugging at the back of his shirt. He turned around and met the eyes of his two friends.

"What are you doing, Jona?" one of the cyan-haired twins asked in a hushed voice.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Bou?" the green-haired asked in return, but his voice was far from steady. "I'm going to go and talk to them. Oh, come on, you guys! If the Owner says that it's okay, they're probably not bad people."

The cyan-haired boy named Bou - who happened to be the older twin by ten minutes - nodded and puffed out his narrow chest as he turned to nudge his twin. "You're right, Jona. Come on, Dorou, it's not everyday you get to see the Pirate King in person!"

The younger twin looked unsure for a short moment, but then he nodded as well. "Alright! Let's go!"

Pushing the silver doors open, the three boys moved out into the dining hall, carefully looking around at the many guests. They were not normally allowed to walk around among the guests, even if they had snuck out there to watch the people on more than one occasion.

To their right, a very tall, muscular man was entertaining a few of the guests by creating tiny dragons made of fire just by waving his hand in the air. The small fire-creations soared through the air under the ceiling and over the tables to the guests' great amusement. To the boys' left, close to the entrance, the rest of the pirates were gathered around a table which was almost completely covered in empty plates. They appeared to be a motley bunch of people who didn't appear to have much in common.

At the far end of the pirates' table sat a man with dark clothes and bright green hair. He looked almost as if he was sleeping, the way he leaned back in his chair with his arms folded over his chest, but as they got closer, the boys could see his lips moving from time to time when he spoke to the other pirates. To the man's right sat two women, one with straight black hair and a very calm and collected appearance, and another with bright orange hair and an annoyed frown on her face. Across the table from them, a small teddybear-like creature with antlers was bouncing up and down on its chair while waving one hoof at the man sitting to his right. However, the man didn't seem to be bothered by this at all. He sat at the head of the table, where the tallest stacks of plates had gathered, talking and laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Jona frowned at the sight of the old, worn and repaired straw hat that the man wore on his head. That man simply couldn't be the King of Pirates, it just didn't make sense. Ever since he was little, Jona had heard stories about this young man who was making his way through the Grand Line, overcoming any hardships as he went and gathering more and more strong members to his crew. But all the stories had told of a man so strong, not even the Marines could catch him, and so ruthless, that he didn't care about innocent people in his quest to become the King of Pirates.

He nodded in the direction of the pirates, and the boys started walking towards them. When they were getting closer to the table, they noticed the man in the brown cloak who was surrounded by a bunch of kids. He was standing with his back to the three apprentices and was gesturing wildly while telling some kind of story.

"…And then, the monstrous hydra reared up with its hundred heads swaying as it fixed its gaze on me, its glowing yellow eyes piercing through the darkness--"

The man actually managed to twist himself into a movement that made it appear as if he had four extra heads and a long snake-like tail. The twins stopped to watch, still holding on to Jona's shirtsleeves.

"-- I raised my slingshot, which was the only weapon I had left--"

The man in the cloak broke off and turned around, spotting the three apprentices, who took a careful step backwards.

"Hey, what have we here?" the pirate said cheerfully, and despite his strange looks (with the unusually long nose and the round, childlike eyes), he looked kind of friendly. "I haven't seen the three of you before. Do you work here? What are your names?"

The three boys nodded in unison, but the twins were still hiding behind their green-haired friend. Jona glanced over his shoulder at the cyan-haired boys, but then he quickly turned his eyes forward again.

"I-- I'm Jona, and this is Bou and Dorou…" He felt as he was being watched, and as he looked up towards the table where the pirates were sitting, he saw the man in the straw hat looking directly at him with a strange look on his face. "Wh-what are you looking at?" he stammered, trying desperately to keep his voice steady.

The straw hat-clad man's face suddenly cracked up in a wide grin, and he turned to his right to catch the attention of the other pirates.

"Look at this!" he said, pointing at Jona. "He looks just like Zoro, isn't that cool?" and he started to laugh in a very friendly way, which made the boys feel a little less intimidated by him.

The orange-haired woman seated next to the supposed-to-be Pirate King looked up from whatever it was she was reading and turned her eyes towards Jona, who could feel that he was blushing heavily.

"Jeez," she said, tapping the tip of her index finger against the laughing pirate's forehead. "They just have the same haircolor, Luffy. Other than that, he looks nothing like Zoro."

"Oh, I don't know…" came a third voice from the other end of the table, where the man with the bright green hair (which really had the exact same color as Jona's) was leaning back in his chair to get a good look at the topic of the conversation. "He kind of looks like I did when I was a kid, but he's clearly a lot weaker than I was at his age."

"Hey!" Jona blurted out before he could stop himself. "I'm not weak!"

This caused the man in the straw hat to laugh even harder, but the laughter was just as warm and friendly as before.

"Ha ha ha, he even sounds like you, Zoro!"

"Now that you mention it, he does remind me of Zoro," said the long-nosed man thoughtfully. "Is there something you've forgotten to tell us, Zoro?"

"Like what?" demanded the man called Zoro.

"Oh, I don't know," said the long-nosed man mockingly. "Any 'escapades' out of marriage in some town in the Grand Line that we don't know about?"

"First: I don't have any kids, if that's what you're asking," Zoro said firmly and reached for a scrap of bread still lying on the table. Then he raised an eyebrow and added: "And second: why the _hell_ would I tell _you_ about something like that?"

Tired of being the topic of the conversation, Jona freed himself from the twins' hands.

"Hey, are you really the Pirate King?" he asked, trying to keep the twins from grabbing hold of his clothes again. The man in the straw hat stopped laughing almost immediately and looked at him with a serious expression in his eyes which almost scared Jona to death. But then he grinned widely again.

"Yup, that's me. I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the King of Pirates. Nice to meet you, Shorty!" Before Jona could protest against being called 'Shorty', Luffy held out his hand towards the two women to his right. "This is Nami and Nico Robin, and that guy over there is Zoro and this one is named Chopper."

"But--" Dorou said carefully, eyeing the fluffy little animal who was sitting on a chair next to the Pirate King carefully. "He's a… a _deer_!"

"I'm not a deer, I'm a reindeer!" spat the animal and turned around in his chair to look at the boys.

"And he's a really talented doctor," added the orange-haired woman with a wink. "So don't insult him."

The reindeer suddenly started to giggle with embarrassment and shouting things like "Don't think I'll be happy because you say that, Asshole!" until Zoro reached out and covered his mouth to protect the children's sensitive minds. Most of the guests in the dining hall sent him appreciating looks for doing that.

"And I'm Captain Usopp!" said the long-nosed man cheerfully, and was about to say something more when a little boy who was sitting on the floor by his feet suddenly tugged at his brown cloak.

"Usopp-niichan, what happened with the hydra?"

Usopp seemed to be reminded by an old injury as he turned back to the children by his feet, because he grasped at his lower left arm before he continued.

"Yes, as I was saying, the only weapon I had left was my old slingshot, and there were only four pieces of ammunition left in my satchel. Against a hydra with a hundred heads, it didn't seem like the odds were on my side… Hey, you three should sit down if you want to listen. You don't have to stand there."

Jona and the twins all jumped as the pirate spoke to them. Neither one of them had noticed that they had been standing there, watching the storyteller with wide eyes. The three of them hurriedly sat down behind the other kids and looked up at Usopp, who continued his story and showed them the pale circular scars on both sides of his lower left arm, where the hydra was supposed to have bitten him in its attempt to finish him off.

– e – e –

While he was cutting the last strawberries in half, Sanji's attention was partly drawn to the faded noise behind him in the kitchen. His hands moved on their own as he listened to the voices around him.

"Easy, Carne! You're slobbering gravy all over the counter!"

"Hah, I bet he's still shaky from the pirate attack."

"Nah, he's just getting old, that's all. Maybe you should think of getting retired, Carne?"

"Ha ha ha, that's very funny. You guys should be comedians instead of chefs. Is that course done? Then carry it out to the _guest_."

It was something in Carne's voice as he said the word 'guest' that made Sanji's mind switch off its autopilot. He turned around just as a waiter scooped up a tray loaded with meat on the bone.

"Wait a minute," Sanji said. "Is that for the Pirate King? In that case, I'll take it myself. I have some desserts for that table anyway."

The waiter looked a bit relieved as he heard this, and he put the tray back on the counter before he hurried away to tend to some other guests. Sanji finished the desserts and placed the twelve bowls of fruit salad and ice cream on a large tray. Then he picked up the tray of meat and turned towards the doors.

"That was the last of the red meat," Carne grunted as Sanji walked past his place by the counters. "Just thought you should know."

"I knew that we'd run out if he showed up," Sanji sighed admittedly. "It's alright, I know of an island where we can buy meat of good quality for almost nothing. Just make sure to cross out all meat courses from today's menu."

"Already done, Owner!" came the voice of one of the waiters from the other side of the kitchen, who held up one of the menus in the air.

"Good," Sanji smiled and walked through the silver doors into the dining hall, where a very loud buzz of voices filled the air. As he looked up towards one of the lamps that hung from the ceiling, he noticed a small flock of dragons made of fire that circled around above the guests' heads.

The blond chef caught Ace's eyes as he looked around, and he chuckled as the dragons swooped down to circle around him before they returned to the room, lighting several candles when they passed over the tables. It seemed like Ace had cooled down, because Sanji couldn't see any more burn marks in the ceiling.

"Sanji! Meat, meat, meat!"

The voice gave Sanji the opportunity to step aside just s Luffy reached out for the meat he was balancing in one hand. Turning around quickly, he brought down his foot and nailed the outstretched hand to the floor.

"I've told you this three times everyday for nine years, Luffy. Wait until the food is on the damn table!" he said and pressed down his heel a little harder against Luffy's hand.

"Ooowowowowow oooow!" Luffy whined and tried to pull back his hand, which was hopelessly stuck under Sanji's foot. "Alright, alright! Sorry!"

Sanji doubted that Luffy's apologize was sincere, but since he didn't have the slightest desire to stand there on the pirate's hand all day, he unceremoniously lifted his foot from the floor. Luffy's arm immediately retracted and snapped back in place with such speed that he accidentally ended up punching himself in the face. The Pirate King wobbled back in his chair and fell backwards over the side of the table, which toppled over him as he tumbled to the floor with a loud crash and caused most of the guests in the room to turn around towards the pirates.

There was a moment of silence before all the pirates in the room, including Ace, burst out laughing, shortly followed by the rest of the guests. Robin placed her hand over her mouth as she giggled softly, while Nami and Chopper were leaning against each other for support as they laughed a bit louder. Usopp, Zoro and even Ace on the other side of the room cackled loudly and almost folded themselves double in their attempt to stay on their feet. The pirates had all seen the incident coming and had been able to move away from the table in time.

Chopper was the first one to stop laughing, as he suddenly remembered that he was a doctor who was supposed to check if Luffy -against all odds- had been hurt. When he hurried back to the turned-over table, the pile of furniture and broken porcelain parted, revealing a baffled-looking Pirate King. Luffy rubbed his head and wiped gravy from his eyes as he sat up.

"Haa… that startled me…. Huh?"

He looked up and squinted as he spotted the tiny fire dragons that were circling around his head. When he waved his hand at them, they split up in a swarm of even smaller dragons before they vanished in thin air. The pirates around him were still laughing, so he joined in the laughter while he let Chopper check him for injuries.

Sanji had managed to keep himself from laughing too hard, but he was still chuckling as he placed the trays on an unoccupied table. Once he had made Zoro help him straighten the table and the chairs and defended the meat and the children's desserts from Luffy with a few well-aimed kicks to the face, he could finally serve the Pirate King his last serving.

When he had handed out desserts to Usopp, Chopper, the six children and his three apprentices, who took their bowls with amazement written all over their faces, and advised everyone to protect their desserts with their lives, Sanji could finally sit down for a moment. He placed the last bowl of fruit salad next to Luffy before he walked over to the empty chair next to Zoro and sat down to watch the kids listening to yet another of Usopp's tales. After a while, his eyes started wandering towards the pirates around him.

He wished that they would never leave, he realized that now. Once they were gone, he would go back to All Blue to stock up, and then he restaurant would continue to sail the oceans just like during the past seven months. And he would have nothing to look forward to, except the next time he would see a glimpse of orange hair, ice blue eyes or a tattered straw hat, or hear another annoying tall tale and the tiny voice shouting words (some of which even Sanji wouldn't take in his mouth).

Hell, he'd probably even look forward to see Zoro once in a while, just to get to argue and fight with someone…

Then he thought of something and hesitated before he turned to Luffy.

"Luffy?" he said, catching the Pirate King's attention just as he discarded the empty, carefully licked-clean plate onto one of the tall stacks in front of him.

"Yeah?" Luffy said as he reached for his bowl of fruit salad without taking his eyes off Sanji.

"I didn't think of it before, but weren't you going to try to return that hat of yours again now that you're really the King of Pirates?"

Luffy looked up towards the straw hat on his head while stuffing his mouth full with fruit and ice cream.

"Oh right, Shanks," he said after a while, grinning widely. "Yeah, I was."

"Was?" Nami took her eyes from the note in her hand, to which she seemed to be adding comments of her own.

"Yeah!" Luffy continued, still grinning. "I met him and tried to give it back again, since I've become a great pirate, but he wouldn't take it this time either. But this time, he told me to keep it, since it means a lot to me."

He put down the now empty bowl on the table and cast a glance across the table at Zoro. Sanji turned his head towards Zoro in time to see the swordsman return Luffy's gaze before he shrugged and went back to lazily watching the kids who surrounded Usopp on the floor. Luffy then reached up to pat the straw hat on his head, with a softer smile on his face.

"What is it?" Nami asked after a while, when Luffy had looked at almost everything in the room except his nakama.

"Nothing," the captain said, wincing as he returned to reality. "I was just thinking… if he knew what would happen, and that's why he gave it to me…"

"Wha--?" Usopp turned around to look at Luffy just as he had finished his story. "You mean that the rumor is true, then? That Red-haired Shanks is…"

"Yeah," Zoro said when Luffy didn't reply. "But the rumors are a bit exaggerated. They--"

One cold glare from Luffy shut him up immediately, and the topic was replaced by Usopp, who asked the children if they had ever heard of an island that was located in the sky. Not interested in hearing Usopp's version of their adventures, Sanji leaned back in his chair, wondering what the rumors could have said. He hadn't heard a thing about Shanks and his crew, even if rumors usually reached the Sagatie very fast. But he knew that if Luffy didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't supposed to ask about it, so he didn't.

The sound of the Den Den Mushi by the small reception near the entrance caught his attention instead, and he watched as one of the waiters ran to answer it. He watched with some interest as the waiter made some notes in the black book, bowed to no one in particular and hung up. Then, the waiter came running up to the table, glancing nervously at the pirates before he turned to Sanji.

"Owner, we just got a late reservation. Those blacklisted Marine officers will be coming here in two hours."

Sanji groaned. The two Marine officers who almost always traveled side by side had visited the Sagatie before, both in East Blue and West Blue, and at one time even in the beginning of the Grand Line. The problem was that they - or rather the blond, silly-looking one - never seemed to have any money to pay for their (or his) food. This had annoyed Sanji to no end, and he had finally decided to blacklist them both (even though the pink-haired commander or whatever his title was usually had enough to pay for his own food) until they paid what they owed. However, this had not stopped them from coming back to the restaurant, since one of the conditions Sanji had had to accept to be able to open his restaurant without being arrested had been that no Marine would be denied to visit the ship.

"Right," he said, rubbing a sore point in his right temple. "Thank you, Ryou. Tell Pati and Carne, so that they can prepare for the Marines."

"Well," Luffy said, suddenly pushing back his chair. "I guess we'll be leaving then."

"If you say so, _Captain_," Zoro said and straightened up in his chair.

"You're leaving so soon?" Sanji heard himself asking, and turned to look at Robin and Nami, even though he already felt that they were going as well.

"And like I said earlier, Luffy, I think the Meri Go would love to have a bigger crew," Usopp chipped in.

"Yosh! We have a ship!" Luffy cheered happily, raising his fist in an overjoyed gesture.

"However," Robin said calmly, surveying the now dancing Luffy with some interest. "A ship cannot have two captains."

"Don't worry!" Usopp assured her with a grin. "I'd be happy to have Luffy as the captain. I mean, he did quite a good job last time, didn't he?"

"Right," Luffy grinned even wider than Usopp and turned to Sanji. "Sanji, can we have some meat?"

Shaking his head, Sanji frowned.

"There is no meat left, but I think there is some fish and chicken you can have." Before he could stop himself, he continued: "Tell me, Usopp, does that ship have any storage room with enough room for a freezer, by the way? The food won't last for long otherwise."

Luffy looked a bit disappointed to hear that there was no more meat he could have, and he pouted a little while he picked up a fork from the table and started to play with it. Usopp on the other hand, nodded happily.

"The storage rooms are a bit bigger than on the Going Merry, and we've already got a really large freezer just waiting to be filled up. So, have you decided to come along after all?"

"No."

Sanji and Usopp both turned their heads to look at Luffy, who was still playing with the fork, balancing it on the tip of his index finger.

"What do you mean 'no', Luffy?" Nami asked. "Aren't you going to let Sanji-kun go with us?"

"Nami-san, it's--" Sanji started. He understood perfectly what Luffy was doing, and he didn't want Nami to get involved. Luffy had all right to act the way he was acting.

"No, Sanji-kun!" Nami said in that certain tone of voice which meant that there was no point in arguing with her. "He can't just do this, it's not right!"

"Cut it out, Nami," Zoro snapped and got up from his chair in a gesture that clearly meant that the discussion was over. "He has his reasons for everything he does, and it is the captain who decides who gets to be in the clan and who doesn't."

"Sanji has his restaurant," Luffy said simply and placed the fork on the table. "He doesn't have the time to be a pirate. Now let's prepare the ship."

He got up, closely followed by Zoro and Chopper. Usopp hurried up to finish the story he had been telling the children, without making it all too short and boring.

"Robin and I have to get our luggage from the family who gave us a lift out here," Nami said and got up from her chair with the repaired Clima Tacts in her hands. "We'll come to the ship when we're done."

"Good," Luffy smiled. Then he snapped his fingers and reached down into one of his pockets. "Right, I almost forgot. Sanji, here!"

Sanji reached out his hand as Luffy tossed a coin to him. He looked down at the 100 Belli coin with an eyebrow raised.

"Not even the King of Pirates eats for free at the Sagatie, everyone knows that," said Luffy and grinned before he turned away again.

Sanji didn't reply, but he dropped the coin onto the table and stood up.

"You were the one who desperately wanted me to join your crew in the first place." He let his hands slide down into the pockets of his pants and tilted his head slightly back as he locked his eyes on the back of Luffy's straw hat-clad head. "I couldn't even try to shut you up. But now you're not even going to ask me to join before you leave me behind?"

Luffy stopped walking just as he reached the entrance and turned his eyes towards Sanji. He looked at the chef for a moment before he grinned.

"Get your things then," he said, walking out through the doors followed by Zoro and Chopper. Nami and Robin walked in the opposite direction, towards the families who had stayed aboard the Sagatie during the pirate attack.

Sanji stood by the table, looking after the pirates for a moment. Then he felt a hand on his right shoulder and turned around.

"You're going as well?" he asked and nodded towards the backpack slung over Ace's shoulder.

"Yes, I do not have any more business to take care of here now that I found Kaji. I should probably try to find my crew in some way or the other. But what about you?"

Sanji smiled.

"I think the order was to get my things," he said. "As often as I've told my staff that I'm going to be a pirate until the day I die, I'd make a fool out of myself if I didn't obey my captain's order."

Ace grinned and adjusted the backpack on his shoulder.

"Spoken like a true pirate," he said, patting Sanji lightly on the shoulder. "Well, I shall go and talk to my brother before I get going. I will see you around, Sanji. And thank you again for the food."

"Speaking of which, did you get to stock up on your supplies?" Sanji asked as Ace walked past him towards the door.

"Yes, I did, I got enough to keep me fed until I get back to the Grand Line." Ace touched the brim of his hat and nodded towards Sanji. "Until we meet again…"

Sanji watched as Ace walked out from the restaurant, and he saw some of his guests turning around in their chairs to get one last glimpse of Fire Fist Ace, the infamous pirate captain. He barely noticed the two men who came up behind him.

"So you're off again, Sanji?" Carne said gruffly.

"Not that we care or anything," Pati added quickly.

"Of course not," Sanji said, smirking as he turned around. "The reason you two were crying your eyes out last time was simply allergies, right? Now listen to me, you two. I need you to take ten large rations of food and take them to that scrappy-looking pirate ship out there. I'll be in my room if you need me."

The two older chefs nodded and turned around to walk back to the kitchen while Sanji made his way towards the stairs to the second floor.

- e - e -

About an hour later, Sanji sat by his desk, just about to seal an envelope with the Sagatie's emblem on it. Pressing the seal against the large drop of red wax, he cast a glance at the clock on the opposite wall. He hadn't thought that it would take such a long time to sign some papers and leave a note for the one he wanted should take over the restaurant. But now, when everything was signed and done, he couldn't help but feel a little empty inside.

He sighed and leaned the sealed envelope against the ashtray on the desk, glanced at the handwritten certificate on top of the pile of signed forms and smiled. Owning a five-star restaurant was something he had dreamed of for many years, even before the day he heard the story about All Blue and became determined to find the fabled ocean. Was he really going to leave everything behind just like that?

"Sanji!"

The door to his room was suddenly slammed wide open and Luffy stepped in, a wide grin all over his face as usual.

"Are you coming soon?" he asked, hopping up to sit on the desk while he eyed the pile of paper interestedly.

"I'm almost done," Sanji assured him. "I don't want to forget anything, that's-- _Please_ don't touch that, Luffy. Those are important papers."

Luffy pulled away his hand from the stack of papers that had caught his attention.

"Sorry!" he said, once again with a grin all over his slightly pointed face. "They just looked so interesting."

He jumped down from the desk and started walking around in Sanji's room, examining everything he saw while Sanji went through the forms and other papers to make sure that they were all signed and accurate. There was a comfortable silence in the room, only broken by the rustle of paper and the slip-slopping sound of Luffy's sandals as he moved across the floor.

Sanji couldn't think of anything in his room that could possibly be interesting enough to capture his captain's interest, considering that he had already packed everything he owned in the two bags that were leaned against the wall by the door.

"I would have left you if you hadn't said anything."

Sanji looked up from the papers at Luffy, who was sitting on the floor by the small bureau where Sanji was keeping his hammock and poking around in one of the drawers.

"You said that this was what you wanted to do, to feed the hungry at sea who aren't me," Luffy continued without looking up from the drawer. "That you were destined to be a chef. And I'm destined to be the Pirate King, right?"

Sanji couldn't help but smile a little. He wasn't the least shocked that Luffy remembered his words even after such a long time. The captain had always had the ability to remember only what was important to him. The names of his nakama never left his memory once he had learnt them, for example, while the names of some of his enemies never seemed to stick in the first place.

"I know," he said, getting up from his chair. "And I know what I said. It's just--"

"Why do you want to go with us?"

Sanji thought of the piercing pain he had experienced for months, and glanced over at his packed bags, that had been thoroughly searched and examined during the short period of time he had let Luffy wander around in his room.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "All I do know is that I'll go insane if I get left here alone."

Luffy grinned. "Good. Now let's go, the Grand Line and One Piece is waiting."

And with that, he bounced out of the room and down the stairs at the end of the hallway. Sanji followed him a little slower and picked up his bags on his way out through the door. As he turned around to get one last look at the room, he thought for a second that he saw old Zeff sitting there by the desk, looking at him with the same facial expression he had worn the day Sanji left the Baratie, the last time Sanji had seen him alive.

"_Oi Sanji! Don't catch a cold."_ The words appeared in Sanji's mind, and he felt a lump forming in his throat, but he still managed a smile.

"I never catch a cold, old shit geezer. You of all people should know that. Ne, take care of my Sagatie, will you?"

There was no answer. The only sound was the short echo of his voice in the empty room. But Sanji was satisfied. He reached out for the door handle and shut the door behind him before he walked through the narrow hallway and down the stairs to the first floor.

When he came down, he was met by all his chefs, waiters and apprentices, who all had gathered around the foot of the stairs. He got a better grip around the straps of the bags he was carrying over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow as he walked down the rest of the steps.

"What's with the sad faces?" he asked. "I thought you'd be overjoyed to be rid of me."

When none of his employees said anything, Sanji turned to Pati and Carne, who both looked as if they were going to break out in tears at any moment.

"Allergies again, huh?" he said teasingly. "Right, now listen up. I'm no longer the owner of this restaurant. From the moment Tajiyo signs the papers I've left for him in my room, he will be your new boss. I expect you to be just as nice to him as you've been to me, you bunch of pain in the ass bastards!"

The chefs and waiters all smiled at this, but the three apprentices looked like they didn't know whether they should laugh or cry. Sanji smiled and ruffled one of the twins' hair as he kneeled in front of them. A muscle in his cheek twitched as the bullet wound in his left thigh gave a sharp throb, but the smile didn't fade from his face.

"Just do your best and show them that you can become the best. I'll come by and test your skill someday. Also, drive these guys crazy for me if you get the time, alright?"

The boys immediately looked happier, and they nodded in unison as a response to the promise Sanji asked them to make. Sanji stood up in one fluid motion, despite the throbbing in his leg and made sure that he was still carrying the two bags over his shoulder before he quietly walked through the crowd towards the entrance to the restaurant.

"Oi, Sanji!" Pati said all of a sudden, making Sanji turn around in the door. "Don't get a cold now."

Sanji grinned as wide as his broken face allowed him to under the bandages.

"Same to you, shitty old farts," he said, raising his free hand. "Now take care of my treasure, I might come back to check up on you someday."

The chefs and waiters cheered, and the guests in the dining hall clapped as Sanji walked out from the restaurant. Once he came out on the portside terrace, he shook his head and looked towards the scrappy, but proud pirate ship.

Aboard the Meri Go, up by the not yet carved out figure head, Luffy was leaning against the railing as he grinned cheerfully down at Sanji.

"It sure seems interesting to live aboard a restaurant," he said, looking up at the Sagatie. "Are you sure you don't wanna stay?"

"No, why would I?" Sanji said, snorting lightly. "Why would I want to be the head chef of a restaurant when I can be the Pirate King's cook? No way, I'm going with you, Pirate King."

When he said this, Luffy just grinned even wider and threw down a rope ladder to Sanji. Then, the captain turned around and called to the rest of the crew to set the sails. The second voyage of the Straw Hat Clan had was about to begin.

* * *

_-stabs QuickEdit for the run-ons it probably will create- Haa... Well, that's all for now. There's one more chapter coming, just to wrap things up..._

_**Straw Hat pirate Fan** - Well, there was rumors about there never being any more Shichibukai, because the Marines started to think that it just wasn't safe to have so strong and unpredictable pirates sailing around without worrying about getting caught. But then they realized that they would lose a whole lot of money if they got rid of the Shichibukai, and decided to accept the applications of seven new strong pirates. But very little is known about these seven outside the Grand Line, since they very rarely enters the four outer seas, and because the people who have had the bad luck to run into one of these pirates never has been heard of again. _

_**FieryKitsune** - Thank you. I like writing action scenes, now that I've learned a little about writing them. That goes for writing Luffy as well. He's really fun to write now that I managed to figure out how he works._

_**Darkday Chaos** -Shameless poking always does the trick, doesn't it? -pounces over the glass ofSake- Motto sake o kudasai!_

_**draganviper** - Yeah, I think you're right. I should have been more descriptive in Luffy's battle at the end. I just couldn't find the right words to describe the moves... Gomen, I'll do better next time._

_**Namibean** - Heh, it willtake a little more than that to keep me from finishing this story. I was just thrown off balance for a moment, nothing more. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you liked this one as well. I wasn't sure if I was going to make Sanji let Zoro know about him not being able to breathe, but I decided to let him do that to point out that even Sanji knows when to set his pride aside. His and Zoro's relation is still a bit tricky to write for me, but I'm learning.  
I've read up to chapter 378 as it is now, and I'm anxiously waiting for the next scanlation (Thank you, Null)... The Swedish translation is still on book 28, in the beginning of Skypiea... Loong way to go still..._

_**El Jugador** - I don't know. Well, you won't be seeing me do that anymore. :D I'd love to write similar stories for the rest of the crew, and I actually have ideas for Usopp, Chopper, Zoro and Luffy that could work... But I'm not sure if that would be a good idea, all stories would end the same way, and I think I'm going to stick with writing stories set pre-Grand Line or Pre-Alabasta for a while... I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long for this chapter._

_**Mavado** - Ha ha, well, it will take a little, little more to break my writing spirit entirely. I'm actually glad that you point out those little things I mess up in my stories, it helps keeping my feeton the ground when my head gets too big. -snerks- Franken-ship... You know, you're pretty dead-on there... I'm actuallyreally curious to see what will happen after Water Seven, and what ship they will have when the whole ordeal is over. No matter what happens, I'll always have my little Going Merry paper model to comfort me... _


	10. The Seventh Guest

Um... Am I to understand that you didn't like the previous chapter by the lack of reviews? Oh well, then my hopes aren't up for this last chapter. Heh... But it doesn't matter. -drumroll- Here it is, the last chapter of The Seventh Guest...

Just a note: The man called Tajiyo is not one of my characters. He appears in one of the filler episodes of the anime, after the Alabasta arc, and is at the time an apprentice aboard a Marine ship. Thanks to Sanji, helearnshow to cook beef curry for the highest officers. Sanji helps himbecause they both have the same goal to find All Blue. Anyway, I thought he would be a good assistant head chef...

* * *

It was an exhausted assistant head chef who arrived at the Sagatie. It was just after midday, and he was happy to be back at the restaurant with the supplies he had been sent to buy at a nearby island. The bottom of the boat he moored to the side of the terrace was covered in sacks of rice, flour, sugar and beans; four barrels of fresh water and rum; flasks of oil and soy; jars with different kinds of pickled and dried fruit and vegetables and boxes filled with tin cans that would serve as emergency supplies. Once he was assured that the boat wasn't going to float away, he began to move the supplies from the boat onto the terrace. 

It took a few minutes before he realized that he wasn't hearing any footsteps coming his way. He would have expected that at least someone would have greeted him, if only to tell him how late he was.

"Hello?" he called out, pushing one of the wooden boxes further up on the terrace and reaching for a bag of rice. Now he was really confused. Had he by any chance come to the wrong restaurant? No, he could clearly see the name 'Sagatie' painted with large letters all over the entrance to the ship. But still, the stillness was rather eerie.

Why was it so quiet, by the way? Now that he thought about it, he couldn't hear any voices at all. And another strange thing he just noticed was that there were no ships surrounding the restaurant. Of course, he had heard the news of the battle between the pirates with high bounties in the area near the restaurant while he was on the island, but the Sagatie couldn't possibly have been attacked? For starters, she wasn't even damaged - even the holes in the roof from the previous pirate attack had been mended - and he hadn't seen any evidence of a battle on his way there. But now he was standing there on the portside terrace with a boat full with supplies and wondered just what had happened.

Frowning, he pushed his round glasses further up over the bridge of his nose and squinted towards the closed double-doors on the other side of the terrace, where a white note was taped to the wood. Without dropping the bag of rice he had hauled up over his shoulder onto the deck, he walked closer to the doors to investigate the mystery further.

"Closed?" he said incredulously once he had read the notice on the door. "Why are we closed? It's in the middle of the week, for crying out loud!"

He reached into his pocket with his free hand to fish out the master key he always kept with him, and unlocked the door. Once it swung open and he stepped inside, he was met by a sight he had never expected to see in the middle of the day.

The chefs and waiters were sitting by the tables in the dining hall, some of them in casual wear and others in what seemed to be uniforms that hadn't been washed in a day or two. At a few of the tables, the men were playing cards or telling stories, and by one of them, Pati was giving the three young apprentice-boys a popquiz about different fish and where to find different species. Of course, it seemed as if the apprentices were answering 'All Blue' on every question about the habitats of fish, and Pati finally broke down laughing at them.

"What the heck is going on here?" the assistant head chef finally asked, making all the people in the room - including Pati and the three apprentices - to look up at him.

"Ah, you're back, Tajiyo," Pati said without getting up from his chair. "I was wonderin' if you'd make it back today or not."

"Why are we closed?" Tajiyo asked, brushing away a lock of his shoulder-long and bushy red hair from his eyes. "Where's Sanji-san, by the way?"

"No more food left, and Sanji's gone," Pati replied indifferently and turned back to the book placed on the table between the chef and the apprentices, pointing at a picture of a large green fish with orange spots. "How about this one? Name the fish, and two places in the world where you could find it."

"W-what do you mean, he's _gone_?" Tajiyo asked, the memory of the stories about the pirates clashing in the same area as the restaurant flashing through his mind.

"I mean that he's gone - split - he's outta here," Pati replied with some irritation in his voice. "Left with some pirates two days ago. We ran out of food yesterday, so we had no choice but to close, or we'd be starvin' on our way back to All Blue."

"Pirates?" Tajiyo blinked as he remembered the Owner's former profession. "Sanji-san…"

"Oh yeah," Pati said, snapping his fingers while he glanced at Tajiyo. "He said he left some papers for you in his room. That you should sign them or sumthin' like that."

Tajiyo frowned as he walked further into the restaurant towards the stairs to the second floor, dumping the sack of rice in the arms of one of the waiters and asking him and his card-playing colleagues to start carrying the supplies from the boat to the storages as he went.

When he came up the stairs to the second floor, he was immediately aware of the fact that someone was indeed missing. There was an unnatural silence over the second floor that Tajiyo wasn't used to. He walked quickly through the short corridor and entered Sanji's room, where he immediately saw the white envelope leaning against the emptied ashtray on the desk. Sitting down in the chair by the desk, he opened the letter and read it.

_Tajiyo, _

You've probably noticed by now that I'm not aboard the Sagatie anymore, and if you haven't noticed that yet, I'm sure Pati or Carne will be more than pleased to fill you in on the matter later.

You don't need to know where I am or why I've left, but if you desperately need to know, you can always ask the others. The important thing is that I've chosen you to take over the restaurant as its new owner. There is a pile of papers on the desk that I want you to read through and sign if you decide to become the head chef of the Sagatie.

In the desk drawers, you will find everything you need to run the restaurant. Maps over All Blue and the safest route to get there are in the bottom right drawer, while receipts and paid bills are in the top right one. I'm sure you'll work it out just fine

The three kids' papers are in the file cabinet out in the hall together with the rest of the staff's records, in case there should come a time when those will be needed.

I hope that you understand that Sagatie is not just a ship or a restaurant. Therefore, I trust in your ability to become a good owner, and that you'll keep the same standards I've tried to uphold. Just remember to do daily inventory lists and to keep the storages full, since you never know what kind of guests might show up.

Now get your asses back to All Blue and stock up, the customers are waiting!

/Sanji

PS. If I get news of the restaurant losing stars, I'll personally come all the way back from the Grand Line to kick your ass. Just thought I should warn you…

Tajiyo put down the letter after he had read it three more times. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was just a big joke someone was playing on him. But as he reached out for the stack of papers and saw the certificate announcing that the Sagatie now officially had been granted five stars, he didn't really care if it was a joke or not.

– e – e –

The sun had reached the horizon when Sanji emerged from the galley. He had spend the whole day trying to salvage what was left of the food they had brought from the Sagatie, and managed to cook three full meals with the two rations that had been left. It hadn't been much, but at least his nakama had been fed, and that meant that his work was done for the day. The only thing he had left to do was to hope that they would reach an island soon, and that no one would hear his stomach growling.

He hadn't eaten anything in a day and a half, to make sure that Nami and Robin wouldn't have to go hungry longer than necessary, and so that he wouldn't have to listen to Luffy, Usopp and Chopper whining about how hungry they were.

Sanji snorted as he walked down the stairs and across the main deck on his way towards the prow deck. There was one thing he at least could appreciate with Zoro, and that was that the swordsman never complained about being hungry. He could mention it from time to time, but during the times when there had been no more food on the ship, and the crew had been forced to go without anything to eat for days at a time, Zoro had simply resorted to sleeping all day, only waking up to tell the others that if they were so damn hungry, why didn't they try to catch some fish?

Sanji was convinced that if Zoro hadn't had that ability to ignore his hunger, he would have thrown the swordsman to the Sea Kings at least a million times over the years.

Digging in his pockets after the box of matches he knew was supposed to be there, he leaned against the wall outside the weapon storage at the prow of the ship. Once he had found them and struck fire to one of the matches to light his cigarette, he climbed the stairs to the upper prow deck, where he leaned his elbows against the portside railing and looked out over the orange-colored water.

He had promised Chopper not to smoke, but he figured that as long as the doctor didn't actually catch him with a cigarette in his mouth, there was no proof that he had smoked. Besides, it took away the empty feeling in his stomach, which wasn't such a bad side effect, and that alone made it easy to ignore the little Chopper- like voice in his head which told him to put away the cigarette until his injuries were healed.

"Here."

Sanji looked up as he heard the voice coming from right behind him. He had been so absorbed in the sunset and his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that Zoro had come up the stairs to stand right behind him, but Sanji was careful not to show it as he looked down at the swordsman's outstretched hand.

One of the buns from dinner was resting in the palm of Zoro's hand, and Sanji looked down at it, unsure if he would dare to take it or not. It wasn't because he was afraid of Zoro, but because he knew that one small piece of bread only would make him even hungrier later on.

"I saved it from Luffy," Zoro said when Sanji didn't move. "I don't know what you think you're doing, and I actually prefer to keep it that way, but if you keep starving yourself, you'll be useless if we get attacked."

"Better to have one useless fighter than seven," Sanji replied, still not making any attempt to take the bread.

"We already have Usopp," Zoro countered with a smirk, leaning his back against the rail next to Sanji with the bread in a firm grip in his hand.

"You know, you have a point there…" Sanji sighed and put out his cigarette against the wooden rail before he reached out for the bread. "Fine, I give up. Give it here."

Zoro opened his hand again and let Sanji take the bread. Then, he simply sat down with his back against the railing and his hands behind his neck. Sanji decided to ignore him, and began breaking little pieces from the bread, which he put in his mouth. It didn't taste bad at all (which wasn't really a surprise since he was the one who had made the bread), and he was careful not to take too big bites. That way, he could make his stomach think that he had eaten a bigger meal.

"Aren't you going to ask me?" Zoro said after a while.

"Ask you what?" Sanji replied, brushing a breadcrumb off his shirt without taking his eyes off the .

"What you've been dying to know the past two days," Zoro said without opening his eyes. "'What happened to Shanks?' That's what you want to know, right? So just ask, now that Luffy isn't here."

Sanji sighed again. He had been really curious about the pirate who Luffy had admired so much, but he hadn't wanted to as since no one seemed to want to talk about it. Had it really been that obvious what he was thinking?

"Fine," he said, sticking what was left of his cigarette in the corner of his mouth and pulling up his box of matches. "What happened to Shanks? I haven't even heard any rumors of his death."

"Well, the rumors say that he was killed during an attack in the middle of the Grand Line, and that he was the only one in the Red Hair pirate clan who died. That he died to protect his crew." Zoro paused and cracked one eye open to glance around the empty deck. He shrugged lightly. "But as I said back at the restaurant, the rumors are exaggerated, like rumors usually are."

"Then you know what really happened?"

"Of course I know, I was there, damn it!" Zoro snapped irritably.

"What really happened, then?"

"There was an attack. Luffy and I had been staying aboard Shanks' ship, since Luffy wanted to show Shanks how much stronger he really was, and we ended up fighting these pirates who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere." Zoro lowered his voice so that Sanji had to turn to look at him so that he wouldn't miss anything that was said. "Yasopp - you know, Usopp's old man - was aiming at the enemy captain with his gun, when someone - and no one knows who - pushed him so that he dropped the gun, which went off as it hit the floor, and the bullet hit Shanks straight between the eyes, killing him instantly in front of Luffy."

When Zoro fell silent, Sanji nodded thoughtfully. "I can see why Luffy doesn't want to talk about it," he said while tapping the ash off his re-lit cigarette.

"Actually, he just doesn't want Usopp to know about it," Zoro said, shifting to a more comfortable position. "So don't go telling anyone about this."

"I won't," Sanji promised. He could imagine how Usopp would react if he ever found out that it was the stray bullet fired by his own father's gun that had killed Red-haired Shanks.

He turned away from Zoro and continued watching the setting sun and the darkening ocean. It had been a long time since he had been able to watch the ocean without having to think about how he was going to make ends meet the following week, or worry about how many guests would show up the next time they stopped to open the restaurant.

There was, however, something that kept gnawing at the back of his mind, as if he had forgotten something he had to do. He was just about to go back below deck to see if he really hadn't forgotten anything important back at the Sagatie, when Zoro spoke up.

"You know, I was thinking…"

"You must be so proud, I guess there's a first for everything," Sanji said before he even had registered that Zoro had spoken to him.

"About what you said back at the restaurant," Zoro said, ignoring Sanji's comment. He opened one eye to look up at the chef. "I don't think you could beat me even if you tried. I think you've slacked off while staying at that cozy little restaurant of yours."

"Really?" Sanji wasn't late to accept the challenge, and he flicked the rest of his cigarette over the railing into the ocean. A thin trail of smoke slithered out from between his lips as he smirked towards Zoro. "Well then, you just have to prove your theory."

Zoro rose from the deck, his eyes glistening with fighting spirit.

"Come on then, old man," he said. "Show me what you've got."

As Sanji launched his first attack, Zoro drew two of his katana to block it before he countered with a series of short slashes. Sanji dodged them with ease, allowing Zoro to warm up. The pounding of his pulse in his ears was only increasing his will to fight, and he could hardly feel the light throbbing in his body anymore.

"'Old man'?" he asked, aiming at Zoro's head for his next kick. "I'm not even a year older than you, moldhead."

Their attacks grew fiercer as the fight continued. Eventually, the rest of the crew noticed their fight, and while Luffy and Usopp cheered and Chopper desperately tried to make Sanji stop fighting, Robin stood halfway up the stairs, leaning against the railing and watched with her usual serene smile on her face. Nami, on the other hand, cast one glance at the fighters, sighed and went back down the stairs to the small room where she kept all her maps.

Leaning back quickly as the edge of a katana cut through the bandages over his face all the way to his skin, Sanji laughed and spun around before he sent Zoro skidding backwards with a quick series of spin kicks. He didn't feel any pain when he moved, not even in his ribs, which he knew was still badly fractured, and he wouldn't waste such an opportunity for anything in the world.

The cut pieces of bandage fluttered to the fall as the fight continued. Sanji felt how Zoro's blades cut through his suit and slashed him several times, but it only increased his will to fight. This was something he had wanted to do for so long.

Zoro pulled back just as the edge of one of the katana was about to cut straight through Sanji's left wrist when the chef had made a careless movement to the side. Sanji quickly pulled back his hand, on which a thin shallow wound had appeared. Zoro looked triumphantly at him and smirked.

"You_ have_ been slacking off," he said. "You forget to watch my movements."

"I guess I am." Sanji slid his hands into his pockets and countered Zoro's next attacks while slowly moving to the right. When he saw his chance, he dodged a fierce slash from one katana and managed to move behind Zoro, giving him a light tap on the shoulder before the swordsman had turned around after him.

"And you forgot to watch your back," he said, just as triumphantly as Zoro while ducking and blocking Zoro's counterattack. "Now who's the slacker, oh greatest swordsman of the world?"

Three days earlier, Sanji would never have thought that he would ever set his foot on a pirate ship again. Thinking back, he couldn't remember feeling this alive in months, and it was all thanks to seven special guests.

The first guest had reawakened the pirate in him.

The second and third guest had made him long for adventure.

The fourth and fifth guest had given him back the happiness he thought he had lost a long time ago.

The sixth guest had filled him with fighting spirit, but it had been the seventh who had given him back his will to live.

-Owari-


End file.
